Williams' Store

What is Williams' Store?

This is a plain, vernacular commercial building of the kind that once lined small-town highways: part grocery, part general store, with a gas station out front. Leo Williams and his wife Lora added hot food for people on the road, serving chili and barbecue beef.

For a while the property even had a croquet court that hosted local tournaments. It was later taken out to make room for parking. Today the Eisler brothers run it as the Old Riverton Store, and Kansas's Route 66 association is based here.

History of Williams' Store

Williams opened the store in 1925, so it was already doing business when Route 66 was created the following year and traffic started flowing past its door. In 1945 he leased it to Lloyd Paxon. Leo died before that lease ran out, and Lora kept the store going until 1970. The building joined the National Register on August 29, 2003. It is also credited with helping inspire the Route 66 music written for the Pixar film Cars.

Visiting Williams' Store: tips

The store sits on the old road itself, so it fits naturally into a drive across the short Kansas stretch. Allow 20 to 30 minutes to look around. Fuel is about 0.1 mile away. Pair it with the Rainbow Bridge, the last Marsh arch on Route 66, about 2.1 miles away, and with the Kan-O-Tex Service Station, about 3.5 miles away, and the Baxter Springs Independent Oil and Gas Service Station, about 3.8 miles away.