Galena

About Galena, Kansas

Facts, Trivia and useful information

Elevation: 900 ft. (275 m). Population: 2,7972 (2026).
Time zone: Central (CST): UTC minus 6 hours. Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5).
Galena is located in Cherokee County, in the southeastern tip of the state of Kansas, and Route 66 runs through the town with an east-to-west course.

Galena's History

Kansas has been inhabited for over 11,000 years. Spanish explorer Francisco de Coronado set out from Mexico in search of the fabled city of Quivira. He crossed the region in 1541. It later became part of the French Louisiana Territory, which the U.S. purchased from Napoleon in 1803.

Galena is set at the foot of the Missouri Ozarks, in an area that was wooded. It was designated to become the Cherokee Neutral Lands for the Indians, but it was quickly settled, and Kansas became a state of the Union in 1861. There were bloody skirmishes along the border during the American Civil War.

Galena's history began in 1871, when the railway was built through the region. The town appeared in 1876 with the discovery of lead ore, and it was incorporated in 1877. It is the oldest mining town in Kansas.

Galena lead mineral. Source

Lead mining brought prosperity to the region, and its population reached 30,000 in the early 1900s. Route 66 was aligned through Galena in 1926, incorporating a former mining corridor road. The highway added to its prosperity, and its segment through Kansas was fully paved by 1929.

During the Great Depression, there were several strikes by the United Mine Workers, which were suppressed with the intervention of the National Guard. During the 1970s, the mines became exhausted, and Interstate I-44 bypassed the town entirely, cutting the flow of travelers. This led to a continued decline in the local economy.

Below is a "Now and Then" set of pictures with cars coming from the left (west) along Route 66, turning north into Main St. (also Route 66) in downtown Galena.

Colorized photo from the 1940s looking North across 7th St. along Main St., Galena.
This is where Route 66 curved into Main St

Same spot today: Looking North across 7th St. along Main St., Galena.

Many of the red-brick buildings have been torn down, but quite a few have survived. You can see them in both photos.

Hotels in Galena

Where to Stay During Your Road Trip

> > Book your hotel in Galena

There are several hotels close to Galena; you can lodge in the neighboring towns in Kansas, Missouri, or Oklahoma.

The Weather in Galena

Location of Galena on U.S. Hwy. 66

The average temperature in Galena is 60.4°F (15.8°C). The summers are hot, with July averages of: 80°F (26.7°C). The mean highs and lows are 91 and 70° respectively (32.8 and 21.1°C).
Winter temperatures average 45.7°F (7.6°C). Average Jan. highs and lows are 45°F and 25°F (7.2 and -3.8 °C).

Rainfall is quite constant: Lowest is 2.6 inches in winter (66 mm), and highest is 5.4 inches in spring (160 mm). There are around 8 to 9 days of rain or drizzle per month.

Snow falls in winter, averaging 12.5 inches (32 cm). Expect snow between November and March, with peaks of around 5 inches (12.5 cm) per month in December and January.

Tornados. Galena is part of Kansas, and it lies within the infamous "Tornado Alley. Read more: Tornadoes on Route66.

Map of Route 66 in Galena, KS

See the detailed alignment in our Route 66 in Kansas webpage.
Below is the interactive map of Route 66 in this town.

Map with the alignment of Route 66 through Galena

>> Map of this segment through Galena

Check out Galena on our MAP of Route 66 in Kansas, with the full alignment and all the towns along it.

The first alignment entered the city from the northeast along Front St. and Main St. it then turned west along W 7th St. In the mid 1940s it was also routed along East 7th St. from Joplin MO.

Route 66 across Kansas

Historic U.S. highway 66, "Route 66" has been designated as an All-American Road and National Scenic Byway in the state of Kansas.
It was aligned in 1926 along pre-existing highways, as you can see in the following map published in 1924, two years before Route 66 was created. The road marked [2] is Jefferson Highway, and [50] is the Ozark Trails.

Sights and Attractions on US 66 in Galena

What to Do, Places to See

Route 66 in Galena: a historic context

Just after the end of World War II, Jack DeVere Rittenhouse drove the whole of Route 66 collecting information for his famous 1946 "A Guide Book to Highway 66". In it, he mentioned all the towns on Route 66 and dedicated the following comment to Galena:

garages: Phipps and Front St.; small hotel; no cabins; stores; gas; cafes. A town whose growth seems to have slowed. The main street has many old buildings, whose roofs are edged with the old-fashioned ornate metal cornices... Rittenhouse (1946)

The original Route 66 (the 1926 - 1961 alignment) is the continuation of Missouri's "Old Route 66 Boulevard", which in Kansas is renamed as "Front Street". This road enters the town from the northeast.

US 66 and bridge at the state line
Click for St. View

The 1961 alignment of Route 66 crosses the town further south, as 7th Street.

State Line

We will begin our city tour on the state line. As you cross the border, you use the original bridge over a creek, affluent of the Spring Branch. It was built with the 1926 alignment, and is still standing (red arrow in the picture).

The service stations at the state line in Kansas have all gone. Both images are looking west along Route 66.

US 66 bike Route
Source

U.S. Bicycle Route 66

You will see the sign just ahead. The US Bicycle Route 66 was created in 2018. It was formally designated as USBR 66 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
It currently exists in Kansas and Missouri between Baxter Springs, KS, and St. Louis, MO, spanning 358 miles (576 km).

It has its own official signage -white on a green background with a bike included and the number 66. See the picture.

Continue west, as you enter the town along Front St., you will see the remains of Galena's mining roots. At the first sharp curve along Front St., as it meets the railroad, to your right, beyond the tracks, you can see the old smelter at the Eagle-Picher facilities, which operated between 1912 and the late 1970s. Here, the lead ore was processed, obtaining silver, zinc, and lead.

The factory was also the site of the bloody faceoff between trade union workers and the National Guard in the 1930s.

Historic Viaduct & Front St. Bridge

After the curve, the road crosses the railway using the Historic viaduct built in 1923. It is over 200 ft. long and meets the town's Main Street, turning south along it.

The bridge predates Route 66 by three years and was built to carry Jefferson Highway. It was chosen to become part of its alignment when the Mother Road was created in 1926. It was a safe way across those busy railroad tracks.

The bridge's pillars were repaired in 2010, and the roadwork and deck were restored in 2017.

Route 66 Cruisers

Now gone, Frecs, 19-foot-tall statue. Click for St. view

At the foot of the bridge, there are several sights and attractions.

Frecs, the Muffler Man ❌

To your right are two oversized boots; they are all that remain of the 19-foot-tall statue built by Renee Charles because there were no muffler men on Route 66 in Kansas. He named it "Frecs", short for Freckles, after his miner grandfather. It burned on March 2, 2022 while they were repairing its arm. The image depicts it while it was standing.

Learn more about the real Muffler Men on Route 66

Ghost Bike

To your right, beyond Frecs, you will see a "Ghost Bike", painted white (pictured below).

It was placed there by residents in memory of two German cyclists killed in an accident just west of Galena. Heinz Gerd Buchel and Harry Jung, in their seventies, were embarked on a Route 66 bicycle tour. Their journey was tragically cut short on May 8, 2018.

Take-home point: Share the road with cyclists.

Ghost Bike Route 66, Galena

Route 66 SHIELD Archway

Across the road, to your left, is the new Route 66 gateway shaped like a U.S. Highway shield, welcoming travelers to Galena. It was erected as part of Route 66 Centennial Celebrations 1926-2026.

Luigi's Pit Stop

The building to your left includes a replica of "Luigi", another character from Cars. Luigi is the owner of Radiator Springs' tire shop. He is an Italian, a yellow 1959-1960 Fiat 500 Nuova. There are some murals and wall art at the site. Stop by and take some photos. There is even a small stretch of the yellow brick road and Dorothy's phrase from "The Wizard of Oz": "There is no place like home".

Luigi's pit stop. Click for St. view

"Sheriff" from "Cars", Source. Click for St. view

"Sheriff" Police Car on a pole

The car on the top of the pole is a replica of one of Disney-Pixar's Cars franchise characters, "Sheriff". The original movie character is a 1949 2-door police car with siren, speaker, and a red rotating gumball light (that lights up at night). The replica is a four-door car, but other than that, it is a great facsimile, painted black and white and sporting the Radiator Springs Sheriff Department seal on its doors.

Continue west, and at the crossroad where Front St. meets Main Street and turns south, there are three classic Route 66 sights.

Haunted Staffleback Bordello

To your right, on the NE corner of E Front St. and Main St., is a gable-roof building that had fallen into disrepair. It has been restored. In the 1890s, it was a bordello or brothel owned by the Staffleback family. An apocryphal story says that some family members were convicted for the murder of one of their customers, and that the ghost of the deceased haunted the house. Visit our Is Route 66 Haunted? page to learn more about its spooky and paranormal sights.

The "Haunted" Staffleback Bordello
Click image for St. view

Bradshaw's Front St. Garage nowadays
Click image for St. view

Bradshaw's Front St. Garage

Across the street, on its western side, is a very old garage, pictured above.

The garage was owned by August Bradshaw, who opened it in 1932 and ran it until he died in 1954. Rittenhouse mentioned it in 1946. Below is a colorized 1941 photo of Bradshaw's Front Street Garage.

As you can see, at that time it sold White Rose Gas and U.S. brand tires.

Ghost Sign
Click image for St. view

Ghost Signs

The sign is falling into disrepair, but there are plans to restore it. The building dates back to 1896, as you can read on the cornice above its main entrance with the words Smith and Moeller. It originally served as a construction supply business and lumber yard owned by Louis Moeller and Joseph Smith.

The north wall of the building, has Ghost Signs. A Ghost Sign is an old hand-painted advertisement that has survived on a building for a long time and not been removed or painted over. These ones at Bradshaw's read "J. H. Smith Lumber Yard" and "Palace Drug Store" - The drug store has long since closed, it was on Main and 6th St.

Old Kan-O-Tex service station

Across Route 66, on the SE corner, to your left is the famous "Kan-O-Tex" service station at 119 North Main St. It is pictured below.

A 1950s photo when it was known as"Little's Service Station" (gas for 23 cents a gallon!)

Logo of the Kan-O-Tex brand of gasoline

The service station dates back to 1934. At one time, it was "Little's Service Station". It sold a regional brand of gasoline. The now defunct company was named Kan-O-Tex because it only sold gas in the states of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Its logo was a sunflower set behind a five-pointed star.
The gas station was built on the site of the Banks Hotel. A few years later, a repair shop and garage were added.

The new four-lane US 66 highway moved to 7sth St. in 1961, leaving the service station far from the flow of travelers. When I-44 bypassed the town (and Kansas) it went out of business until it was restored in 2007. Now it has a roadside café and a souvenir shop. It kept the facade and gas pumps, but now it has a diner which the original did not.

It was previously known as "Little's Service Station, "4 Women on the Route and now "Cars on the Route", due to the boom truck that inspired a character in the movie Cars.

Cars Movie character "Tow Mater"

There is another tow truck in Pixar's animated movie Cars, "Tow Mater" was inspired by a truck which can be seen next to the service station. The truck (a boom-truck, which was used to lift gear from the mine shafts near Galena), was an L-series International Harvester 1951 model truck.
This series of trucks was introduced in 1949 and replaced in 1952 by the R Series. To avoid infringing Disney ⁄ Pixar trademarks, the original truck is named "Tater"

Head into Downtown Galena along US 66

Pepsi and Mountain Dew on Prehm's Bldg.
Click image for St. view

Buck's and Prehm's Pepsi Mural

Drive into town along Main Street, at 214 and 212 N. Main, to your right is a large red-brick building, from 1895. It houses "Prehm's", at 214 a mercantile store that has murals of Pepsi and Mountain Dew on its north wall, and "Buck's" which was John Gill's store. it later was a Pool Hall in the 1940's.

On the next block (320 N Main St.), to your right is the Old Maywood Theater, built before 1918 as a movie and vaudeville theater (St. view).

On the NE corner of 5th and Main is the former Miner's & Merchant's Bank, later named Citizens State Bank of Galena, now a Deli, it is believed to have been robbed by Bonnie Barrow (of Bonnie and Clyde fame), see its St. view.

Brown's Standard gas station

Opposite the bank, on the NW corner is what at one time was Brown's Standard service station. This is a late 1910s or early 1920s style station, with a Low-pitched hipped roof over the office that projects as the canopy. Stuccoed brick columns with tapered pedestals and wood brackets supporting the canopy's eaves.

The old building later had a lateral garage bay added. It was then reformed, the area under the canopy has been enclosed, but the old brackets and brick pedestals can still be seen. Below are three different "Then-and-Now" pictures.

A 1980 photo of Brown's. It had closed in 1970.

A 2000 photo of Brown's. Notice that the service bay has been removed.

Now Brown's is a Mexican Restaurant called "Mi Torito".

Howard "Pappy" Litch Memorial Park and the 1952 Will Rogers Marker

Litch D-X gas station

Across 5th St., facing Brown's gas station, at 502 Main St. During the late 1800s, a livery stable stood on this corner. Howard Litch turned it into a DX Service station. Later, it was a Federal Weigh Station on US Highway 66. The old garage building has been torn down, and the property is now a park.

Howard Litch (1906-1996) was the son of a miner, a businessman, and also a local historian who promoted Galena. The town's museum is named after him.

Galena's Jail

Single Cell steel cage jail.
Click image for St. view

On the southern side of the park, you will see a steel cage, a single-cell movable jail similar to the jail-cage in Foss, Oklahoma, also on Route 66.

Route 66 Marker

Don't miss the "Official Route66 Roadside Attraction", the original 1952 Will Rogers Highway plaque now located in the park (it used to be on the Kansas - Missouri state line). St. view. The marker's text is the following.

Galena, Kansas Founded in 1877 Named for the Ore it produced, "Galena Lead" mining was the largest industry in our history, starting in 1873 and continuing until 1973. The mining and smelting required 3 railroads, 65 crushers, 2 smelters and 3 sludge mills to handle the ore produced from as many as 250 mines. The city sprang up with over 160 service and professional businesses. Its population grew to 30,000 people, making its history the largest community within Cherokee County. What today is known as "Main Street of America" or the "Mother Road", US 66 was established down our main street, Galena, Kansas, in 1926, dedicated as US. 66 Will Rogers Highway Dec 9, 1935. Kansas has 13.2 miles of Route 66 at this point there are 1794 miles west and 606 miles east of America's US Historic Will Rogers Memorial Highway US 66." "America is a land of opportunity and don't ever forget it." Will Rogers

Will Rogers, Oklahoma's Favorite Son

William Penn Adair "Will" Rogers was born in 1879 close to Claremore, Oklahoma. He was a Cherokee Indian, a cowboy, and also a movie star, an entertainer. He became a Broadway actor, a writer, philosopher, and comedian. During his career in the 1920s and 1930s, he made 71 movies and wrote over 4,000 newspaper columns. He was a world-famous star. He died in an airplane crash in Alaska in 1935. Route 66 was dedicated to him.

Texaco Gas Station & Tag Flag

Old Texaco before restoration.
Click image for St. view

Beside the old Post Office, on the next corner (NW corner of 6th and Main), to your right, is a restored former Texaco gas station. Now it is a gift shop, Gearhead Curios, with artwork and curios for the Gearhead.

It also has a Disney-Pixar Cars movie character, "Doc Hudson" (Hudson Hornet, MD), in the role of a medical doctor and local judge in Radiator Springs. Don't miss the "Tag Flag" on its southern wall, an American flag made with license plates. This gas station was built between 1930 and 1946.

Big A The Only Muffler Man on Route 66 in Kansas

Big A, the only muffler man on Route 66 in Kansas. Click for St. view

Right behind the Texaco, by the tag-flag, is this modern Muffler Man, placed here in September 2024.
He has a green Texaco Uniform, a cap with the Texaco logo, and a wrench in his left hand. His right hand is raised, waving. He was styled after Aaron Perry, the owner of Gearhead Curios, that is why he sports a white beard.

The muffler man was inspired by the Texaco Big Friend muffler men of 1966 (click to see a picture of them, back in 1966). The statue is 22-feet-tall, and weighs 1,200 lbs.

Murals of Galena

Ahead, at 7th Street on the SW corner of Main & 7th St. is the Mural. This is where the 1926 and the later 1961 alignments met in downtown Galena.

The now-empty southeastern corner is the site of the Sapp Opera House, built in 1896. It burned in 1931. Famous Harry Houdini performed there in 1898.

Coca-Cola Mural

Coca-Cola Mural. Click image for St. view

The building on the northeastern corner dates back to 1897 and is known as the "Schwartz building." It was a drug store. It now boasts a Coca-Cola Mural along E 7th St. It is a nostalgia-appealing mural, 16 by 60 feet, and is the work of Mythiq Art & Mural from Joplin, MO.

Route 66 alignment on East 7th St.

Cornerstone Gas Station

East 7th Street became the only alignment of US 66 in 1961, but it had been part of Route 66 since the mid-1940s. Only one Route 66 site remains on this alignment east of town: Cornerstone Station.

Turn left along East 7th, drive 0.4 miles, to your right at Wood and E 7th, you will see this stone building. With a gabled canopy over a now vacant pump island. Howard Litch built this station when he returned to Galena after serving in the army during WWII. The building from the late 1940s is still standing. Below is a "Then and Now" sequence.

Litch's Cornerstone gas station ca.1950

Litch's Cornerstone gas station nowadays

Western Galena Along W 7th St

Turn around and head west along 7th, after passing Main St. you are on the original 1926 to 1985 alignment of Route 66.

Ahead to your left, on the SW corner of Short St. and W 7th is a former Gas Station from the 1960s, the canopy is clearly visible, the pump island and the old office and cafe or maybe garage bays (?). see St. view.

Litch Historical and Mining Museum

Tank at the Galena Museum. Click for St. view

Ahead, to your right is Galena's Museum, at 319 W 7th St. The museum is housed in the original building of the M-K-T railroad (Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway) depot. It was acquired in 1983 for that purpose and moved from its original location on Main & Front Streets. The museum is named after Howard "Pappy" Litch.

As fitting with a town born from mining, the museum has a collection of items related to the zinc and lead mining operations in the area; it also has a caboose and a locomotive, and the M-60 tank (pictured), from the US military. Across the road, to your left is an Old Gas Station.

Old Gas Station

On the SE corner of W 7th St. and Elm. It has two pumps on the corner, no canopy and some signs with broken acrylic sheeting marking the spot.

This spot marks the end of your City Tour along Route 66 in Galena.

Continue your drive along U.S. 66 by heading west into Riverton, Kansas.

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Credits

Banner image: Hackberry General Store, Hackberry, Arizona by Perla Eichenblat
Jack DeVere Rittenhouse, (1946). A Guide Book to Highway 66
Kansas Historic Route 66 Corridor Management Plan 2011

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