U.S. Highway 66 was officially born on November 11, 1926, about the time the Bureau of Public Roads
launched the Numbered Highway System in the United States. The Anniversary of that historic date, now
the Anniversary of Historic Route 66, is also celebrated as our Veterans Day! Route 66 also became
the first continuous paved highway across our nation.
Interestingly enough, U.S. Highway 66 had already been in use prior to that time through its many
component parts made up of old dirt paths, Indian trails, the National Old Trails Rd, wagon roads,
as well as a few city streets and state roadways. Connecting Chicago to L.A., the new highway crossed
through three time zones and through eight states as it ran like a river trying to find the best way
westward to the roaring Pacific Ocean. U.S. Highway 66 was not continuously & completely paved until 1938,
more than a decade after its official designation as Route 66 in 1926.
In 1929, the stock market had crashed. During the Depression, author John Steinbeck renamed Route 66
"The Mother Road" in his classic 1939 novel and also 1940 film, "The Grapes of Wrath." He portrayed
the desperate plight of over 250,000 people who migrated westward toward California to escape the Dust
Bowl Era from 1931 until 1939. This was the largest westward migration in American history, and Route 66
was the major migratory pathway to the western United States for these folks.
The Oakies and the Arkies packed up whatever they could carry and started migrating westward along the
path of Route 66. Steinbeck wrote, "Route 66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and
shrinking land, from the thunder of the tractors and shrinking ownership, from the desert slow northward
invasion, from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from the floods that bring no richness to
the land and steal what little richness is there. From all of these the people are in flight, and they come
into artery of Route 66 from the tributary side roads, from the wagon trails and from the rutted country roads."
He then continued, "Route 66 is "The Mother Road", the road of flight." Route 66 then facilitated the
largest mobilization of military equipment and manpower during the war years to military training bases
located both in the east & in the west. This movement took a toll on many early Route 66 bridges and
fragile roadbeds, which were not originally designed for this heavy military vehicle use.
After the war, Bobby Troup (1918-1999) and his first wife headed west in a green 1941 Buick convertible
toward Hollywood. While driving through Ohio on Route 40, Cynthia asked if writing a song about Route 40
was possible. Bobby quickly discarded the idea. Then after joining Route 66, she whispered to him,
"Get Your Kicks on Route 66." Troup immediately started penning down the lines of the song he composed
about their California trip and of the towns along the way on Route 66!
While Bobby Troup drove west along old 66 he wrote ...
"If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, take the Highway that's the best
Get Your Kicks on Route 66!
It winds from Chicago to L.A.
More than 2,000 miles all the way
Get Your Kicks on Route 66!
You go through St. Louie, Joplin, Missouri
And Oklahoma City, looks mighty pretty
You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona, Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino
Won't you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that California trip
Get Your Kicks on Route 66!"
Once in Hollywood, Troup presented his catchy little tune to Nat King Cole who wrote the music and recorded
the hit "Route 66" in 1946! Troup's song has been recorded by over 100 other artists and sang by millions!
That same year, traveler Jack Rittenhouse completed his book "A Guide Book to Highway 66," which was a mile
by mile description of the now fabled highway and was about what was to be found along its length.
After the war, Route 66 became the main highway used to travel across America after the U.S. Highway
66 Association (1927-1976), which was founded by Cyrus Avery, began promoting 66 as the great family
road trip and vacations in the west with the Cowboys and Indians!
Literally, millions flocked to the highway in search of the real America, to visit the west, to see
Cowboys and Indians, The Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Disneyland, the Pacific Ocean and Hollywood! Route 66
captured the imagination of the World and became a pulsing neon pathway for the all American road trip.
Route 66 began being referred to fondly as the "Main Street of America."
Primitive filling stations became service stations, then became super service stations. Camps became courts
and courts became motels. Small grocery stores gave way to cafes, diners and "greasy spoons", which all
sprang up along old 66 seemingly overnight to dispense hospitality to Route 66 Travelers!
Route 66 quickly evolved into a virtual pathway of these "Mom and Pop" businesses which politely dispensed
hospitality to the Route 66 Travelers along the full length of "The Mother Road."
As tourism along the highway flourished, Route 66 became a mecca of neon clad motels, cafes, diners, curio
shops and stations. All sorts of traveler targeted facilities popped up including roadside attractions
with rattlesnakes, bison and other wild animals. Indian Trading Posts and curio shops selling headdresses,
rubber tomahawks and the like, became commonplace. "Mom and Pop" businesses flourished and in the 1930s,
Vernacular Roadside Architecture featuring eye-catching oddities of fruit, animals and all things western
was born and began to quickly evolve. The 1920s to the 1930s Art Deco-styled architecture was becoming wide
spread. It quickly became a symbol of American modernism, which then evolved into the beautiful aerodynamic
Streamline Moderne-styling in the late 1930s. Many superb Streamline Modern-styled structures remain along
old 66 today. In the 1950s and 1960s the styling changed to the even more space-age or futuristic Googie-styled
architecture which featured playful geometrical shapes and letters. All of these styles of architecture were
used along the highway in an attempt to entice the Route 66 Travelers to pull over and stop at their
establishment and spend some money there!
Yes, the U.S. Highway 66 designation evolved into Route 66, which then quickly evolved into the Main Street
of America. Route 66 had become quirky and kitchy, and Americana at its finest!
On June 26, 1952 the Will Rogers Caravan was organized by the U.S. Highway 66 Association. Route 66 was rededicated
as "The Will Rogers Highway." U.S. Highway 66 was the first road Will Rogers had traveled in a career that led
him straight into the hearts of his countrymen.
Sadly, the extreme popularity of 66, and the heavy volume of traffic, eventually spelled out its untimely demise.
The roadway became too crowded and unsafe for pedestrians, yes, 66 actually became dangerous, accident prone and
in bad repair. This flurry of traffic gave way to the unpopular nickname of "Bloody 66."
Route 66 had become a victim of its own success ...
In 1956, with the passing of the Federal Highway Act, funds were allocated by Congress to create the Dwight D.
Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways.
At first, the Interstate was welcomed ... but soon, as the candle began burning at both ends, people along 66
began to see what was happening. They began to see that every time a new section of the Interstate was opened,
thriving towns almost immediately began to die. "Mom and Pop" businesses were sadly forced to close their doors.
The motels, the stations, the diners, the Indian Trading Posts, curio shops and roadside attractions all dried up.
The businesses were forced to close as the steady stream of Route 66 Travelers now passed by their now isolated
Route 66 locations on the newly constructed Interstate.
In 1957, The Dinah Shore Show " featured the song "See the USA in your Chevrolet", which beckoned Americans to
get out and travel the USA.
Then in the early 1960s, CBS aired a new show named "Route 66," starring Tod and Buz and featuring their experiences
during their travels across America in a shiny new Corvette. The show fueled the country's passion for the
automobile and the freedom of the open road. But as Tod and Buz came into our living rooms each Friday evening,
Route 66 was no longer evolving ... it was devolving into a maze of broken alignments and dead end alignments as
the Interstate dissected it without any regard. Yes, as the Interstate Highways were being constructed, the
highway of the American dream was being destroyed by uncaring highway departments and design engineers with
no regard for the road and more importantly, no regard for the lives of the people who lived and worked along
the road ... the people who earned their living dispensing hospitality to Route 66 Travelers.
The folks along old 66 were simply cut off and left to die a slow and painful death. Their businesses were cut off.
Their livelihood was cut off. It was described as if someone had placed a locked gate across the road coming into
town. The traffic just stopped, from thousands of cars a day to zero, as another new section of the Interstate
Highway was opened.
In Chicago, on January 17, 1977, the Route 66 Loop in the downtown was decommissioned. It took almost three decades
for the five Interstate Highways to be constructed that eventually replaced over 2,400 miles of Route 66. On October
13, 1984, the town of Williams, Arizona was the last town bypassed by I-40 on all of Route 66. The life of the once
luminous wonderland, "The Main Street of America," had been completely bypassed, discarded, eliminated and left for
dead ... at only 59 years of age!
After 1984, most of the remaining business closed. Hundreds of small towns along old 66 appeared to just die. The
people closed up shop and moved away. Some sat in the dark ... as the state governments forgot all about these fine
people in these fine little towns. Then in 1987, a grassroots revival of old Historic Route 66 began in Seligman,
Arizona. The people of the historic highway, headed by town barber Angel Delgadillo, began to fight back.
It may have taken five Interstate Highways to replace the old Route 66 roadbed ... but that didn't stop her. It did
not end the Route 66 era ... as she lives on ... she lives on as "Historic Route 66" in the hearts, souls and
memories of millions and millions of people in the United States and also from around the World.
The "Death by Interstate" of old Route 66 was the best thing that ever happened to her. The eight Route 66 States
began forming Historic Route 66 Associations. Maps locating the old severed roadbeds were drawn. Books were authored.
Videos were produced. Historic Route 66 Markers were designed and placed along the old road. Suddenly, Historic Route
66 was magically alive again ... and now, she was out to capture the imagination of the world!
People began searching along old Historic Route 66in an attempt to return to the America left over from a bygone
era and from a much simpler time. Searching her out to find the real America. To find the remains of the pulsing
neon pathway across America and the "Mom and Pop" businesses and attractions of a real America before it so sadly
became generic. Route 66 Travelers began to relish the feel and the smell and the vastness of the open road and
its scenic beauty! They are experiencing a rare opportunity in todays fast paced and hurried lifestyle to stop, and
to get off that Interstate Highway, and to discover that life really does begin at the off ramp! To take a step back
in time and to travel the old historic two-lane highway that settled and built this fine country and formed its
American culture. The Historic Route 66 experience definitely begins at the off ramp and can not be found while
traveling on the Interstate Highways.
Today, Historic Route 66 is like an open window into the past, frozen in time, with luminous neon lights and shiny
tailfins, like a nostalgic moment seemingly capable of perpetual regeneration! Please do not sit idly by and miss
experiencing this important American icon! Travel Historic Route 66 before it is too late!
Historic Route 66 celebrates her 96th Anniversary in 2022!
Even though original Route 66 was decertified, decommissioned and nearly forgotten ... She is still alive and capable
of capturing much more than just the imagination of the World. She touches lives. During her 59 official years Route 66
touched the lives of countless millions of Americans, and in the years since then ... She continues to touch the lives
of millions more not only from the United States, but from around the globe. May she touch yours. One trip along old 66
and you will be hooked!
It is reported that over 82% of the old roadbed still exists and may be driven. Hundreds of old courts and motels remain
and still host overnight Route 66 Travelers. The old cafes and diners still serve up strong coffee, great road food and
juicy burgers. Many of the old trading posts and curio shops remain open where you can find that "authentic" rubber
tomahawk!
The legend of the road lives on. Even though many segments of the old roadbed cannot be driven, people come from all
over the World to eagerly seek out the old remnants of 66. To find lost bridges. To drive the remaining intact pavement
of the original roadbed of old 66 until it dead ends. To explore the ruins of a time gone by and to stop along deserted
remnants of the old highway and listen ... listen in silence to the sounds of the Oakies passing through in their loaded
down flivvers. Of the Arkies, and the boys returning from the war, and of the hundreds of thousands of American families
who vacationed out west by traveling along this old path, the pathway of, the "Main Street of America."
There is something very special about this old highway. It goes beyond the old remnants of roadbed, beyond the old ruins
and landmarks, beyond the old bridges and crumbling building and relics of a bygone heyday. It is the people along the
old road which make Route 66 what it is and what it represents today. That my folks is where you will find the real magic!
The people in the cities and towns along the way, that remain in those broken down bergs and dusty hamlets, cut off by the
Interstates, that make it worth preserving as part of our heritage and history for the benefit of our future generations!
I have witnessed an out pouring of increased volunteerism, donations and camaraderie among an "inner circle" of Route 66
Roadies during the past 15 or so years. These very special individuals unselfishly give of their funds, their time and
their resources to help with the preservation efforts and to actually and physically save and help preserve several old
endangered motels and historical buildings ... heck, they even band together to save vintage bridges!
Route 66 exposed the heartland of America to the people of the eastern and central United States. It brought the people
of the east together with the people of the west ... and it was all done along "The Mother Road, The Will Rogers Highway,
The Main Street of America!"
A return to the road is a bittersweet experience. An experience you will not easily forget ...
And remember ... "Life does Begins at the Off-Ramp along old Historic Route 66!"