Chris Jones is the Midwestern Meanderer on Etsy. A photographer, he takes pictures of yesterday’s highlights that endure. He is a premier American Roadside and Route 66 photographer. His stunning picture of Jo Ann, the Airway Majorette, is avaiable on Etsy in several sizes. Check it out!

Disappearing Road Signs 

I have been writing about disappearing, iconic road signs in Oklahoma for two nearly decades. The loss is staggering when weighed against their ghastly replacements: backlit pieces of absolute junk hoisted high on steel poles. Nobody ever photographed one of those beasts and put it on a postcard.

Historic preservation and thoughtful city codes can go a long way toward protecting culture, community, and our sense of place. Without them, every town risks becoming Anywhere USA, where the same chain stores, the same restaurants, and the same generic signage make one community indistinguishable from the next.

Thankfully, St. Ann, Missouri, chose a different path. Thanks to local preservation efforts, the Airway Drive-In’s iconic neon majorette still stands.

Inspired by a Baton Twirler

The Airway Drive-In opened in 1948 and became one of the St. Louis area’s most popular outdoor theaters. It was owned by Henry Holloway, whose granddaughter, Jo Ann Hast (later Lesch), was a baton twirler. According to family members, Holloway enjoyed watching her perform so much that he commissioned the drive-in’s now-iconic majorette sign in her honor.

Hast died in 2024 at the age of 81. 

For decades, the giant twirling majorette sign was one of the most recognizable landmarks in the innering suburb of St. Louis. At night, it was illuminated in neon, and through the years it became inseparable from St. Ann’s identity.  

The Airway remained in operation for nearly four decades. Like many drive-in theaters across the country, it faced increasing competition from indoor multiplex cinemas. It closed in 1986 and was later demolished. Rather than destroy the sign, the landmark was preserved and incorporated into the commercial development that replaced the theater. Today, the restored majorette sign stands near the original site. 

A Twirling Landmark

The Airway Drive-In Majorette Sign, heretofore Jo Ann, is evidence of how deeply twirling once permeated American culture. Mid-century designers routinely used majorettes to symbolize celebration and civic pride. Today, most of those images have disappeared underscoring the significance of St. Ann’s preseravation efforts. Jo Ann stands as an unexpected monument to a generation of twirlers whose presence once defined community life across America.

On Your Way To Nationals…

If you’re driving to Notre Dame this summer for the National Baton Twirling Championships and passing through the St. Louis area, consider making a quick stop in St. Ann to visit one of the few surviving majorette-themed roadside landmarks in America. If you do, snap a photo in front of Jo Ann, the iconic Airway majorette sign and tag us on Instagram at @vintage.twirler. We’d love to see your pictures.

In case you missed it, here’s the post we wrote about the NFL twirler Marion Caster who is presumed to be the inspiration behind the neon majorette sign in San Diego. It was built in 1947, one year before Jo Ann.