The Ozark Whirlers is a square-dance club that has been based in Eldon, Mo., for 52 years, and the group still meets for dances at least twice a month, according to a feature article in the Lake Sun Leader of Camdenton, Mo. Many members are in their 70s.

And the dancers must have had some pull to do this:

John and Eleanor are both full of stories about their years of square dancing. John Stover recalled a particular event in Lebanon, Mo., when sections of Route 66 were blocked off so the dancers could get a couple of quick rounds in on the pavement.

Wikipedia contains an interesting historical overview of square dancing. Because square dancing is linked to Western swing music, it’s seen its ebbs and flows in popularity over the decades. I suspect square dancing has creeped into a “so square, it’s cool” category, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it makes a comeback one of these days.

Microsoft, as just about anyone who owns a computer knows, is one of the biggest companies in the world.

Did you know it has a connection to Route 66, albeit peripheral?

Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in an office building barely a block off Route 66 in Albuquerque, at 6320 Linn Ave., and operated there from 1975 to 1979. Now, one of the offices in the complex is for sale.

The listing is here, by Maestas & Ward. The price is $82,950 for 1,185 square feet.

According to The Channel Wire:

In January 1975, Gates called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), the company that was developing the world’s first PCs, offering to sell them software.

MITS, which occupied the building at the time, told Gates to come back in a month. During that time, Gates and Allen wrote the first version of Microsoft BASIC, and then moved to Albuquerque and set up shop in the building.

Today, the surrounding neighborhood, which has been “a little downtrodden” in recent years, is on the rebound, due in part to its proximity to the University Of New Mexico and Nob Hill district of the city, according to a representative from Maestas & Ward.

Paul Allen bought the building four years ago with the intent of using it as the site of a Microsoft history museum, but later scrapped the plan and sold the building. However, Microsoft recently placed a plaque outside the building that acknowledges the historical significance of the site in the annals of IT industry history.

Too bad Allen’s museum idea didn’t happen. Even if you loathe Windows operating systems, there’s no doubt the building contains a ton of historical significance.