Tales From The Coral Court

Tales from the Coral Court:Photos and Stories from a Lost Route 66 Landmark is a biographical book written and compiled by Shellee Graham in 2000, and published by Virginia Publishing, a local publisher from St. Louis.

The book tells the story of the Coral Court Motel, a motel located in Marlborough, Missouri along historic Route 66 (locally known as Watson Road). The motel (which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, but could not be saved from eventual demolition, replaced by a subdivision) operated from 1941-1995 and during its heyday had gained a notorious reputation, in part due to the tragic kidnapping and murder of Bobby Greenlease, Jr. (the murderers, Carl Austin Hall and his mistress, Bonnie Heady, hid out at the motel until their capture). More of its reputation, however, came from the motel being a popular site for illicit sexual liaisons due to its architecture: the majority of units contained individual one-car garages where a person could park the car inside, away from anyone who may be looking for a person.

The book contains slightly dated information: at the time of publishing volunteers had managed to save one of the units for eventual restoration in the National Museum of Transportation (located in St. Louis) but the unit had not been fully restored as of the book's publishing (subsequently the unit was restored and is displayed at the Museum).

External Links[edit]

• Coral Court Motel historical website (NOTE: website is not secure)