Route 66

Route 66, or U.S. Highway 66, is famous for being the first major thoroughfare connecting towns and cities in the American Midwest with those in western states. Entrepreneur Avery Cyrus of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is considered the father of Route 66, as it was his plan to develop a link between Chicago and Los Angeles. The first legislation mentioning a system of public highways appeared in 1916, but not until 1925 did Congress approve a real proposal for a national highway system. The number 66 was given to a planned road traversing over half of the country from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Unlike most other major highways in existence at that time, Route 66 did not adhere to a straight-line course from east to west. Instead, it traveled a roughly diagonal course from northeast to southwest linking hundreds of small towns and agricultural communities to the distribution capital in Chicago. The American trucking industry benefited tremendously from this. Trucking became as important for American business and commerce as trains, and the flat prairie land that most of Route 66 crossed proved a great benefit to truckers. By linking so many rural communities with urban America, the highway became known as “The Main Street of America.”

Route 66 was constructed using as many existing roads as possible in order to hasten the connection between Chicago and Los Angeles. The entire length of Route 66 ran 2,448 miles, crossing eight states and three time zones. In the beginning, only a portion of the highway was paved, but by 1937, with help from the New Deal construction efforts, the road was paved from beginning to end.

John Steinbeck brought Route 66 to the nation's attention in his classic novel The Grapes of Wrath, which proclaimed Route 66 as the “Mother Road.” A movie based on the novel appeared in 1940 and brought Route 66 further attention. Steinbeck's story of a Depression-era family fleeing the harshness of the Dust Bowl closely resembled the reality of the time. Estimates show that more than 200,000 Americans fled the disastrous conditions in the Midwest, and most of them used Route 66 as their road to freedom from want.

The Mother Road served an even more important role during World War II and its accompanying baby boom. With the outbreak of war, the War Department needed proper roads to facilitate the mobilization of manpower and materiel to and from the facilities and military bases on the West Coast. After the war, America became a more mobile society. Thousands of former soldiers who experienced life in the West and Southwest during their military training decided to relocate to the temperate and relatively unsettled regions out west. Soon, Route 66 was a busy thoroughfare for those looking for new opportunities, and it teemed with economic growth prospects.

All of the traffic westward needed to be accommodated. Between tourists and families moving to the West, they needed food, clothing, supplies, and [Page 569]automobile-repair places. The motel, new type of facility, arose as a cheaper option than a hotel. Modern service stations were created in the furor of the westward migration during the postwar years. Roadside cafés were another innovation that Route 66 spawned. Neon lights directing travelers to businesses that would meet all of their needs were commonplace on Route 66.

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