Maybe the sign says MOO on the other side...that would explain everything!

It would have to be a simple word. MOO, GAS, EAT...maybe, at most, CAFE. There's just no space for anything more.

I'll bet that rusty little sign had some bright paint at one time. Possibly a stylized arrow at the tip. And it definitely had neon--glorious 1940s or 50s neon! Look carefully and you can still see a series of holes where the hand-crafted glass tubing snaked in and out.

Sign-making was a real art form back then. That little piece of steel was likely made by a local shop that did its own design, metal cutting and painting. Then it cut the neon tubing and shaped it into letters. When it was all wired up for electricity and installed, it would glow with bright colors and (perhaps) blink on-and-off to catch the attention of passing Rt 66 motorists.

There was a little gas station somewhere around here, west of Erick OK, back in the 1940s. It may have belonged to them.

There are no building foundations remaining now. Just a few shade trees and cows...and a little sign with a vanished message from the past.

(This image is on display at the Route 66 Interpretive Center, Chandler OK.)