Named for Judge Clinton Irwin and not for former President Bill, Clinton (pop. 8,833) started life as a trading post for local Cheyenne Arapahoe people, and is now in the spotlight as home of the official Oklahoma Route 66 Museum (daily, closed Sun. and Mon. in winter; $3; 580/323-7866), near the west end of town at 2229 W. Gary Boulevard. Unlike many other “museums” along the route, this one is a true showcase and not just another souvenir stand. Funded by a variety of state and local sources, the museum reopened in late 1995 after undergoing a massive, million-dollar expansion and improvement, and is one of the better museums of the old road along the old road. Collectors from all over the country, including Clinton’s own Gladys Cuthbert, whose husband, Jack Cuthbert, was the primary promoter of Route 66 throughout its glory years, donated signs, artifacts, and memorabilia which have been organized into a comprehensive exhibition of Mother Road history and culture not to be missed by any Route 66 aficionado. (There’s a good gift shop, too.)
Clinton also has the very nice McLain Rogers public park, with a swimming pool and water slides, at the center of town along 10th Street (old Route 66), next to the Route 66 Miniature Golf Course.
For food, west of town along the I-40 frontage, just north of exit 62, Jiggs Smoke House (580/323-5641) is a tiny cabin selling BBQ sandwiches but specializing in travel-friendly beef jerky. Alas, Clinton’s longtime favorite Route 66 restaurant, Pop Hick’s, burned to the ground in 1999, with no insurance and no real chance of being rebuilt. Elvis himself stayed four times at the Tradewinds Best Western ($50 and up; 580/323-2610), across from the Route 66 museum at 2128 Gary Boulevard. Elvis’s room has been “preserved” as a mini shrine, and you can stay in it (for around $90) and experience a time warp back to the mid-1960s.
For more on Clinton’s Route 66 connections, contact the helpful visitors center (580/323-2222 or 800/759-1397), at 101 S. 4th Street.
