| City/Town: • Hinton |
| Location Class: • Commercial |
| Built: • 1940 | Abandoned: • 1960's |
| Status: • Abandoned |
| Photojournalist: • Michael Schwarz • Emily Cowan |
Leon and Ann Little of Hinton were two entrepreneurs who realized the traffic of Route 66 and took advantage of it. In 1940, Leon and Ann were working on building their third service station in the area. Shortly after the completion of their third station Leon was drafted and was given 6 months to make arrangements leaving him with the only option of leasing the Little’s Gas Station and Cafe. EB Enze was the man who he leased it to and in a clever business move shut down the Little’s Station and building his own nearby, this would become Hinton Junction Courts & Cafe. It would consist of a curios shop, cafe, and 24-hour service station, and a five-room motel in a building at the back of the property. Waitresses would get pay and tips, and were sometimes offered room and board in the motel as well as the cooks.
Throughout the 50’s it was owned by Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Johnson up until its closing in the 1960’s due to the Interstate 40 being built and taking away travelers from Route 66. In an Anadarko Daily Newspaper dated March 04, 1962, the Hinton Junction went up for sale to the highest bidder. This included the service station, cafe, tourist court and five-roomed motel, the buyer of this once bustling business would be required to pay 20% of the purchasing price on day of sale to be put in escrow.
Gallery Below of Hinton Junction Courts & Cafe
Bibliography
“4 Mar 1962, 9 – Anadarko Daily News at Newspapers.com.” Newspapers.com, www.newspapers.com/image/631971747/?terms=hinton%2Bjunction.
“Route 66 Lost & Found.” Google Books, Google, books.google.com/books?id=okdgtKfaZGwC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=EB%2BENZE%2BHINTON%2BJUNCTION&source=bl&ots=_sTfotPd1r&sig=ACfU3U0w_zDIWP19DsvkzkBFwVAsYKrA3g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi69KeqpYXqAhVFJKwKHRA-CioQ6AEwAXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=EB%20ENZE%20HINTON%20JUNCTION&f=false.
Sonderman, Joe. 66PostCards.Com, www.66postcards.com/postcards/ok/OK077900.html.
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Man, what a crazy story. I'll probably share this with some of my friends. Thanks again for posting it.
DUDE! I am so excited right now after reading this! Thaaaaankkk you!
How is the place now, have the renovations been done, or the place is now the same.
Indeed very thoughtful by the people. Thanks.
You will need to remember, though, that in the commercial associated with electric power resources, you generally receive what you cover.
There is a house west of this building and the people who live there would like people to ask permission before tramping on their property.
I heard that you're the biggest tramp in town Jean!
This was actually named Hinton Junction. It is at the intersection of Ok State Hwy 281 and Route 66. My dad worked there when I was a small child and I remember he always brought us a Milky Way bar on Saturday nights after work. Later, when he drove a milk truck and I would run the route with him, he would stop here for coffee. We sat at the counter and on the shelf were many different kinds of canned soup. For some reason I never understood, I always asked for oyster stew and he never, ever let me get it (probably knowing I wouldn't eat it…LOL ). There were also 2 miniature stone castles on each end of the main building near the motel rooms. I always thought they were amazing ! At least one is still in place. We lived on the farm a couple of miles east of the truck stop near the Key bridge…. Happy memories!
Thank you for sharing this. It's aware me about this scarpe de sport view this site . I had great time reading on this. I'm gonna share this on to my friends.
Ha! thats awesome! I love that old propane truck.