Historic Provine Service Station, or Lucille's Place, is a historic landmark on Route 66 in Oklahoma

Historic service station near Hydro, Oklahoma.Photo byBatterup55, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Provine Service Station is a historic filling station on U.S. Route 66 in the vicinity of Hydro, Oklahoma (Caddo County. It was later known as Hamons Court, Hamons' Service Station, and Lucille's Place.

This piece of history was operated by Lucille Hamons from 1941 until August 18, 2000, when she passed away. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 17, 1997. It no longer functions as a gas station and serves as a historic landmark.

Carl and Lucille Hamons started out living on his mother's farm during the 1930s. He had an inheritance he used to purchase the station.

This filling station opened in 1929 by Carl Ditmore. There aren’t many remaining two-story stations left and this is one of them. The owner lived on the upper floor. Ditmore owned the land of the service station which he built. When it was leased to Transcontinental Oil Company in 1929, it was known as the Ditmore Service Station.

On July 18, 1929, Carl Ethel purchased the property. In 1930, he sold the right-of-way to the state in exchange for a promise that the station wouldn't be disturbed.

The original Lucille's Place.Photo byLucille's Roadhouse (Weatherby, OK) via Facebooik.

In 1934, the station was acquired by W.O. and Ida Waldrup and they changed the name to the Provine Service Station. While there, they added five tourist cabins.

In 1941, before the U.S. entered into World War II, Lucille and her husband, Carl, bought the station. Because there was rationing of fuel and tires, traffic had decreased.

Lucille ran the station and the motel of five cabins while Carl was an independent trucker. During the 1950s and 1960s, traffic on Route 66 increased, but once I-40 was completed in 1971, traffic had nearly disappeared.

Lucille and Carl had divorced in the early 1960s. Lucille was known for helping travelers on Route 66 after the Great Depression. Her actions earned her the title of Mother of the Mother Road. Once the station was bypassed, the motel shut down, but Lucille kept serving the local customers.

The station sold beer when the nearby town of Weatherford was dry. It was another way to make money. The last fuel was dispensed in 1986. After that, it was a souvenir shop. During the 1990s, there was a demand for nostalgic items linked with Route 66, a highway that had become decommissioned.

In 2003, the Hamons family donated the Hamons Court motel sign to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Visit here to see the sign.

Carl Robert Hamons died in 1971, at age 61-62. Lucille Ione Arthurs Hamons died on August 18, 2000, at age 85. While they divorced, they were reunited in death next to where their son was buried.

Their only son, Carl Robert Hamons Jr., was murdered by his ex-wife in August 1962. He was only 27. Visit here to learn about the backstory of Carl Jr. and his ex-wife.

Lucille's Roadhouse in Weatherby, Oklahoma is a nod to Lucille's Place.

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