On this day in 1926, the country’s most famous highway, Route 66, was established, a new California Trail for generations of Americans moving West.
Nearly 4,000 miles long passing through six states, Route 66 hop- scotched its way through literally hundreds of small towns. The zig zag path was not an accident. It was meant to be “America’s main street,” providing rural communities with access and increased opportunities. And it worked. The highway’s popularity created countless entrepreneurs. (Above, Route 66 sign in Chicago)
Unlike the Interstate Highway System which was all new construction, Route 66 was knit together from existing roads. New sections simply filled in the gaps. Before 1916, ways to get from here to there were a scattered collection of “auto trails,” named by private organizations.
Legislation introduced that year didn’t actually mean much until 1921 when the government began putting together a plan. A revised blueprint appeared four years later in 1925.. Two businessmen, Cyrus Avery (right), an Oklahoma livestock producer and John Woodruff (below), an attorney and tireless promoter of all things Missouri lobbied the American Association of State Highway Officials to actually act on it.
Beginning in Chicago and wending its way to Santa Monica, California, the route became increasingly popular, first with a burgeoning trucking industry because it was flat and in rural area not served by public transportation. With fewer than 8 million private automobiles in the U.S. in 1919, nearly three-quarters of them were registered in rural America. Just ten years later, however, the number of automobiles had tripled as urban dwellers developed a taste for the independence of driving.
Often called the “Mother Road,” Route 66 was believed to be the path to prosperity for those fleeing the Dust Bowl ravaged Midwest. It did, in fact, improve the economy of the small towns it passed through, providing a new stream of customers for gas, lodging and food.
1927 Route 66 caravan
Another flood of westward migration followed during WWII as defense industries in California sought to hire thousands of workers to make everything from mess kits to airplanes.
But by the mid-1950s, its heyday had passed. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vision for a faster, more direct cross-country network was spurred by memories of endless troop convoys he experienced as a young soldier and his exposure to the Autobahn in Europe during WWII.
Wigwam lodges
What Route 66 lacked in speed, convenience and engineering, it has continued to provide romance and nostalgia. Since nostalgia does nothing to improve paving, however, the 1960s saw large sections of the highway in disrepair.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton signed the National Route 66 Preservation Bill, allocating $10 million in matching fund grants to preserve and restore iconic landmarks along the way. The National Park Service helped the preservation effort, listing more than 100 historic sites on the “Route 66 Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary.”
The backdrop for countless books, movies and television dramas the highway has not been forgotten. Promoters of this historic way West are lobbying to restore Route 66 to the nation’s highway maps and atlases.
The National Park Service’s Route 66 itinerary lists historic stops by state including information about that state’s portion of highway and contain
s photographs of some of the most iconic landmarks. In addition, the “find your park” page lists all the National Park Service sites in a 30 mile radius of Route 66. For more information go to ncptt.nps.gov/rt66/route-66-travel-itineraries, e-mail IM_Rt66@nps.gov or call (505) 988-6701.
© Text Only – 2017 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain.