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Baxter Springs Independent Oil and Gas Service Station, Kansas

Retro roadside
In Baxter Springs, Kansas
On Route 66

This Tudor Revival filling station in Baxter Springs, KS, was built in 1930 and today serves travelers as Kansas's Route 66 Visitors Center. It was first run by Independent Oil and Gas, then became a Phillips 66 station after a merger. With its cottage-like look and long record of serving drivers, it is a natural place to stop, stretch, and learn about the Kansas stretch of the road.

What it is

Its designers gave it a Tudor Revival look, like a small cottage. That look was popular for gas stations of the era, because oil firms hoped a homey design would let stations sit comfortably beside nearby houses. A later addition, built sometime between 1930 and 1942, held an auto repair shop.

Today the building is home to Kansas's Route 66 Visitors Center. It stands on the former Route 66 alignment through Baxter Springs, less than a mile from the main route line shown on the map.

A bit of history

Independent Oil and Gas Company built the station in 1930. A year later that firm merged with Phillips Petroleum, and the station took on the Phillips 66 name, a fitting brand on this highway. Phillips ran it until 1958, and the pumps kept selling gasoline into the 1970s. The building joined the National Register on August 29, 2003, and it is also on the Register of Historic Kansas Places.

Visiting tips

Plan 20 to 30 minutes to look around the station and gather ideas for the road ahead. It is a natural place to ask about the rest of the Kansas route, which is short: Route 66 spends only about 13 miles in the state. Fuel is easy: a Phillips 66 station sits about 0.1 mile away, and there is food about 0.2 mile off. For a detour into mining history, the ghost towns of Hockerville, Zincville and Picher lie about 3.4, 4.7 and 6.1 miles away.