Lucille Hamons' generous assistance to motorists on US Route 66 during hard economic times at the end of the Great Depression would make her a US Route 66 legend, earning the nickname "Mother of the Mother Road."
The station was opened by Carl Ditmore in 1929, and it is one of the few remaining examples of a 2-story fuel station with the owner's residence above the pumps on an upper floor. W.O. and Ida Waldroup changed the name to Provine Service Station when they purchased it in 1934 and added tourist cabins to provide five motel rooms on-site.
Lucille and Carl Hamons bought the station in 1941, a few months before the US entered into World War II, which also brought wartime rationing of fuel and tires, causing civilian traffic on the highway to decline. Carl Hamons worked as an independent trucker, which left Lucille to operate the station and the motel. Traffic on Route 66 would then increase substantially during the 1950s and 1960s, but virtually died when Interstate 40 was completed through Oklahoma in 1971.
After the highway was bypassed by Interstate 40, the motel closed, and Carl and Lucille later divorced; but Lucille's would continue to serve a largely local clientele. The station became known for vending very cold beer from its old cooler. The last fuel was dispensed in 1986 and the station basically became a souvenir shop.
The original "Hamons Court" motel sign was donated by the Hamons family in 2003 to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
The original "Hamons Court" motel sign was donated by the Hamons family in 2003 to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
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