Route 66 is often referred to as the Main Street of America, the Mother Road, or the Will Rogers Highway.
It starts from the Grand Park in Chicago, then it winds its way across
Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexicao, Arizona, and California before it reaches its dead-end:
right at the crossing of Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, a beautiful town in suburban Los Angeles.
[MW] [WT]
2 History
In the year 1926, Henry Ford decided to lower the price of cars, which changed the life of the Americans, and the whole world.
It reboomed people's desire for a better nation-wide highway system, which had almost faded away because of the convenient national
railroad network. People began building part of route 66 in 1926. Route 66 served the country for thirty years
until it officially ended in 1956 with the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act during the EISENHOWER administration.
Route 66 was the road of opportunity in the great depression of the 1920's and 1930's, and the road to home
after world war II. To this day, route 66 is one of the few historic highways people keep putting up the old signs
and travel through it to memorate the old days (maybe US route 50 too, or the so called Lincoln highway).
[QS]
2.1 Father of Route 66
Cyrus Stevens Avery was called the father of Route 66. He was the leader of a few highway-related assotiations,
and he and his collegues proposed a rough route 66, which connected hundreds of stateroads from Chicago to LA.
2.2 The Bunion Derby
The Bunion Derby was held in 1928. It was proposed by C. C. Pyle and the US Route 66 Association.
It was a marathon-style footrace that started from Los Angeles, headed along route 66 to Chicago, and finally ended in New York City.
It was the first time that US Route 66 got so much daily national coverage in newspapers. A cherokee name Andy Payne
finally won this race.
2.3 The Road of Opportunity
It was no long before the great depression hit the US, and the world. Many people drove to California along
Route 66, thereby transforming this historic road into a road of opportunity and road of hope.
2.4 The Road to the Frontline
Then WWII broke out, route 66 became of road full of servicemen going from post to post.
2.5 The Road Home
After WWII, route 66 was crowded with soldier travelling from the west coast to their mid-west home.
2.6 The Federal Aid Highway Act
In the second world war, Ensenhower was a general. He saw how the German Autobahn worked,
and how fast his army proceeded through the Autobahns from the German border to Berlin.
When he got back from Europe, he began his propaganda for a national freeway system in the US.
After he became the 31st president of the US in 1953, he finally pushed the Congress to pass the
"Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956". The goal of this act is to create a nation-wide freeway network.
3 State-By-State Trip along Route 66
When you drive along Route 66, pay attention to these landmarks:
Gas stations
Motels
Cafes and Foodstands
3.1 Illinois
[HISTORIC66]
Route 66 starts from Grant Park.
3.2 Missouri
[HISTORIC66]
Missisipi river, the bridge of st louis.
3.3 Kansas
[HISTORIC66]
3.4 Oklahoma
[HISTORIC66]
3.4.1 Avery's Corner
The service station Avery built in the 20's, at the junction of highways 33 and 75, just 7 miles outside Tulsa, OK.
3.5 Texas
[HISTORIC66]
3.5.1 Cadillac ranch
Yes, there are about a dozen of cars sticking into the mud over there.
3.6 New Mexico
[HISTORIC66]
3.7 Arizona
[HISTORIC66]
3.8 California
[HISTORIC66]
References [HISTORIC66] http://www.historic66.com [MW] Route 66, the mother road, by Michael Wallis, St Martin's Press New York, 1990 [QS] Along Route 66, by Quinta Scott, University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 2000 [WT] http://wikitravel.org/en/Route_66
