Route 66
Route 66, often referred to as "The Mother Road," is a historic highway in the United States that was established in 1926. Spanning over 2,400 miles, it connects eight states, including Illinois, Missouri, and California, and traverses three time zones. Initially conceived to meet the growing demand for better roadways in the 1920s, Route 66 became an iconic route for American travelers seeking scenic vistas, including the Grand Canyon.
Throughout the 1960s, the highway garnered cultural significance, being celebrated in songs and literature, such as Bobby Troup's "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" and Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." However, with the advent of the interstate highway system in the 1950s, many sections of Route 66 were bypassed. Efforts to preserve the road and its nostalgic charm have been championed by various groups, leading to the maintenance of original signage, motels, and roadside attractions. Today, remnants of Route 66 continue to attract visitors, offering a glimpse into America’s past and inviting new stories from modern travelers.
Route 66
The Main Street of America. Also known as the “Mother Road,” this highway, dedicated in 1926, was the first unbroken, fully paved highway from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Origins and History
By the 1920’s, the automobile had captured America’s imagination, and the resultant public demand for better roads spurred Congress to modify the 1916 Federal Highway Act in 1921. The new law provided federal money to states for a system of interconnected interstate highways and required states to designate as much as 7 percent of their roads as national highways. This was the beginning of a federal interstate highway system that included Route 66. Dedicated in 1926 and completed in 1937, Route 66 was more than twenty-four hundred miles long and traversed three time zones and eight states Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. It was the best way to see some of the scenic wonders of the United States, including the Grand Canyon and the Pacific Ocean.
By the 1960’s, the nation’s love affair with Route 66 was well entrenched. The highway had been immortalized in the Depression era songs of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and in Bobby Troup’s popular hit “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” recorded by Nat King Cole in 1946, and Jack Kerouac’s 1955 novel On the Road. However, the construction of a new 42,500-mile interstate highway system supported by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and made possible by the Federal Highway Act of 1956 led to the inevitable bypassing of the old road. The U.S. Highway 66 Association tried to prevent the total destruction of America’s Main Street, and many sections of it were kept as service roads for the new interstates.
In 1960, the Columbia Broadcasting System created a television show entitled Route 66. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and George Maharis as Buz Murdock, two men who crisscrossed the country in a red Corvette helping people resolve various problems in towns and cities along Route 66. The TV show, which ran until 1964, revived many fond memories in the minds of Americans, many of whom had traveled Route 66 during the Depression, during World War II, or as vacationers in the 1950’s. This nostalgia and the efforts of the U.S. Highway 66 Association, other preservationists, and historians has meant that many of the original signage has been maintained and many of the motels, cafés, gas stations, and tourist attractions along the old road are still in operation. The lore of the road stories about motels with buildings shaped like tepees, a jack rabbit mounted on the roof of a trading post, “real Indians” selling their wares along the roadside, and the natural wonders of the Meramec Caverns, the desert, and the Grand Canyon spurred the preservation of as much of the road as possible. Parts of the original road can be found in each of the eight states Route 66 crossed. Even stories about the many and terrible automobile accidents that happened along Route 66 have become part of the road’s folklore.
Subsequent Events
Many of the stories of Route 66 businesses and travelers have been documented in the 1980’s and 1990’s. The old guide books have been reprinted, and many historians, preservationists, and private citizens as well as the National Park Service are working to protect those sections of the route that are still viable and to restore others that have declined to no more than weed-infested gravel or dirt pathways. In the stretches where people can walk along remnants of the road, the old road is creating stories for new travelers.
Additional Information
In 1990, Michael Wallis published Route 66: The Mother Road, which provides a thorough discussion of the road and excellent photographs. Route 66: The Highway and Its People (1988), by Susan Croce Kelly with a photographic essay by Quinta Scott, discusses the history of the highway from its birth through the building of the interstate that bypassed much of it.