Historic Round Barn in Arcadia, OK, to celebrate 20 years of renewal Saturday

By Richard Mize | Published: April 11, 2012

Leave a comment
This a view of the loft at the Round Barn in Arcadia, which will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its restoration on Saturday. CHRIS LANDSBERGER - The Oklahoman

“We figured it was going to collapse and that it was going to be a goner. Then those amazing people up there came together and did that,” she said. They saved the Round Barn.

And 15 years later came Aubrey McClendon, the Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO, soda pop lover and fan of Arcadia, who erected the giant neon roadside pop bottle, shop and diner, POPs, a present-day expression of the kind of attraction the Mother Road was known for in its heyday.

“They're working in tandem. People stop at the Round Barn and shoot pictures and drive over and have a soda pop,” Heisch said.

Route 66 and its tourist stops — and the preservation of now-historic sites — were meant to be experiences, she said, not just sights to see.

Richard Mize, Real Estate Editor