The Chandler Armory building in

Chandler, Oklahoma Chandler ( sac, Chêninêheki) is a city in, and the county seat of, Lincoln County, Oklahoma, United States. and is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area. The population was 3,100 at the 2010 census, an increase over the figure of 2,842 in ...

is an Art Deco military building which now houses the Route 66 Interpretive Center, a museum devoted to understanding the construction and history of

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...

. The structure is apparently notable for having the only brick

outhouse An outhouse is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may also be used ...

in Oklahoma, complete with original French fixture. It was built of local red sandstone by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

between 1935 and 1937 as a home for Battery F, Second Battalion of the 160th Field Artillery of the Oklahoma National Guard, 45th Infantry division, and after vacation by the military in 1971 was vacant until becoming the home of the museum in 2007. The building was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1992. The building was designed by Brian W. Nolan, a local architect and National Guard officer. It is constructed in two parts, with the eastern section housing gun bays, offices, classrooms and a magazine under a barrel-vaulted roof. The western half comprises a wooden-floored drill hall with a stage at one end, beneath which is a narrow rifle range. The museum contains few physical exhibits, but uses audio-visual installations, such as footage shot from a 1965 Ford Mustang, to immerse the visitor in the atmosphere of the old highway. Visitors may relax on a bed in a virtual hotel room to view the material on an overhead screen.

References

External links

Route 66 Interpretive Center
- official site Buildings and structures on U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 in Oklahoma Armories on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma Automobile museums in Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places in Lincoln County, Oklahoma National Guard (United States) Works Progress Administration in Oklahoma Chandler, Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-museum-stub