U.S. Route 66

U.S. Route 66 was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66, US Highway 66, was established on November 11, 1926. However, road signs did not go up until the following year. The famous highway originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, encompassing a total of 2,448 miles. It was recognized in popular culture by both a hit song and a television show in the 50s and 60s.

Get your kicks with this quick quiz.

True or False?

1. U.S. Route 66 began in 1857.

2. Part of the road alignment was the auto trails before number routes began.

3. Oklahoma entertainer Will Rogers championed Route 66.

4. In 1928, the U.S. Highway 66 Association made its first attempt at publicity, the "Bunion Derby", a footrace from Los Angeles to New York City, of which the path from Los Angeles to Chicago would be on Route 66.

5. Route 66 was one of the last highways to be paved, giving it the nickname "Bloody 66".

6. In the 1950s, Route 50 overtook Route 66 as the main highway for vacationers heading to Los Angles.

7. The first McDonald's in San Bernardino, California on Route 66.

8. The original Route 66 nickname was "The Will Rogers Highway", because of his star status in the 1920s and 1030s.

Answers

1. True. In 1857, Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a Naval officer in the service of the U.S. Army Topographical Corps, was ordered by the War Department to build a government-funded wagon road across the 35th Parallel. His secondary orders were to test the feasibility of the use of camels as pack animals in the southwestern desert. This road became part of U.S. Route 66.

2. True. Named auto trails were marked by private organizations before a nationwide network of numbered highways was adopted by the states. The route that would become Route 66 was covered by three highways. The Lone Star Route passed through St. Louis on its way from Chicago to Cameron, Louisiana, though US 66 would take a shorter route through Bloomington rather than Peoria. The transcontinental National Old Trails Road led via St. Louis to Los Angeles, but was not followed until New Mexico; instead US 66 used one of the main routes of the Ozark Trails system, which ended at the National Old Trails Road just south of Las Vegas, New Mexico. Again, a shorter route was taken, here following the Postal Highway between Oklahoma City and Amarillo. Finally, the National Old Trails Road became the rest of the route to Los Angeles.

3. False. The route was championed by Tulsa, Oklahoma businessman Cyrus Avery when the first talks about a national highway system began, US 66 was first signed into law in 1927 as one of the original U.S. Highways, although it was not completely paved until 1938. Avery was adamant that the highway have a round number and had proposed number 60 to identify it. A controversy erupted over the number 60, largely from delegates from Kentucky which wanted a Virginia Beach–Los Angeles highway to be US 60 and US 62 between Chicago and Springfield, Missouri.

4. True. In 1928, the U.S. Highway 66 Association made its first attempt at publicity, the "Bunion Derby", a footrace from Los Angeles to New York City, of which the path from Los Angeles to Chicago would be on Route 66. The publicity worked: several dignitaries, including Will Rogers, greeted the runners at certain points on the route. The association went on to serve as a voice for businesses along the highway until it disbanded in 1976.

5. False. Much of the early highway, like all the other early highways, was gravel or graded dirt. Because of the efforts of the US Highway 66 Association, Route 66 became the first highway completely paved in 1938. Several places were dangerous: more than one part of the highway was nicknamed "Bloody 66" and gradually work was done to realign these segments to remove dangerous curves.

6. False. In the 1950s, Route 66 became the main highway for vacationers heading to Los Angeles. The road passed through the Painted Desert and near the Grand Canyon. Meteor Crater in Arizona was another popular stop. This sharp rise in tourism in turn gave rise to a burgeoning trade in all manner of roadside attractions including teepee-shaped motels, frozen custard stands, Indian curio shops, and reptile farms. Meramec Caverns near St. Louis began advertising on barns, billing itself as the "Jesse James hideout". The Big Texan advertised a free 72-ounce steak dinner to anyone who could eat the whole thing in an hour.

7. True: It also marked the birth of the fast-food industry: Red's Giant Hamburgs in Springfield, Missouri, site of the first drive-through restaurant, and the first McDonald's in San Bernardino, California. Changes like these to the landscape further cemented 66's reputation as a near-perfect microcosm of the culture of America, now linked by the automobile.

8. False. U.S. Route 66 received many nicknames. Right after Route 66 was commissioned, it was known as "The Great Diagonal Way" because a large section of the highway (Chicago to Oklahoma City) ran diagonally. Later, Route 66 was advertised as "The Main Street of America" by the U.S. Highway 66 Association to promote the highway. In the John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath, the highway is called "The Mother Road", which is the title that The Route most often receives today. Lastly, Route 66 was unofficially named "The Will Rogers Highway" by the U.S. Highway 66 Association in 1952. A plaque dedicating the highway to Will Rogers is still located in Santa Monica, California.

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