More Pictures From The
Commerce, Ok. Business District
This picture was taken about 15 years later than the ones on the earlier page and shows Commerce when U.S. Route 66 was passing through town. Note how active and full of businesses the town was in those days. Large malls and superstores have killed most of the businesses off in these small towns. It is different group of stores in this picture, but the town looks much the same. On the south side is the Hampton clinic, then a sign saying "Old King Beer." The signs further on down are hard to read, but I can see what looks like the old "Black Cat Cafe" on down the street. There appears to be an undertaking sign on the building on the north side. Those cars look like 1939 Chevys, so the picture is probably from about 1940. That narrow strip of pavement that is visible in the 1926 picture is nearly invisible under the dirt street in this picture. Imagine, if you are a teenager, what fun it would have been to drag one of these dirt streets in your roadster, especially if the street was dusty. | ||||||
The Black Cat Cafe was a popular eating place at Commerce and operated up into the 1950s. It was located on Route 66 about a block from where the road turns south toward Miami and it is about where that "Eat" sign is in the above picture. What a wonderful place it was.
