The U-Drop Inn was originally built as a Conoco service station and café in Shamrock, Texas.
Constructed in 1936, the U-Drop Inn was designed in an eye-catching Art Deco style during the period when Route 66 was becoming a major long-distance automobile route. Its tower, curved forms, and colorful detailing made it much more distinctive than an ordinary filling station.
The complex served motorists with both fuel and food, two essential services on early highways. It later declined as traffic patterns changed, but restoration returned the building to a prominent place in Shamrock’s downtown landscape.
The U-Drop Inn is sometimes called the Tower Station and U-Drop Inn Café because the building combined those functions. It is not the same landmark as the Route 66 Midpoint Café in Adrian. The U-Drop Inn’s association with the fictional town of Radiator Springs in the film Cars also increased its public visibility, although the real building predates the film by many decades.