An eyesore at the east entrance to Webb City on Old Route 66 is being removed by the new owner of the site, the City of Webb City.

Getting the former G&H Redi-Mix site cleaned up has been a longtime goal of the Webb City Council.

City Administrator Carl Francis says he has already received calls from firms interested in purchasing the site. 

Charlotte Hurd tells us that her father, Treman Galardo, originally bought the property to store construction equipment and pipe while he was installing a rural water district system.

He started mixing concrete there in 1970, closed the plant and then reopened it in 1976. G&H Redi-Mix operated on the site until the business moved to its Joplin location in around 1983-84.

One thing Charlotte remembers from the 1970s is when Route 66 collapsed in that area.

There are a lot of neat “Waldos” in the aerial photo above. For instance, you can clearly see the “world’s narrowest 2-story building.” It’s on Broadway on the side of the casket/Morton Booth building. Sadly, many of the buildings are no longer there. Further up Route 66 (Broadway) is the coney island restaurant building. Where Route 66 makes a sharp turn on Webb Street, you can see the Civic Theater Cafe. Old city hall was still 2 stories tall. The photo is so clear, you can see the fire escapes at the rear of it and the adjacent Empire District office.

At the bottom of the photo, you can see a streetcar abutment with the gravel approach still intact. Obviously missing are the Cardinal Scale Mfg. buildings.