With cars rapidly gaining popularity in the early 20th century, an American businessman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, had a vision of a network of highways connecting the whole country.
Starting small in 1901 as a businessman and county commissioner, Cyrus Avery was nominated in 1925 to the newly formed Joint Board on Interstate Highways, a federal agency tasked with coordinating, organizing, and numbering the country's road system.
Officially commissioned on Nov. 11, 1926, and first marked with roadside signs in 1927, Route 66āofficially U.S. Highway 66āconnected Chicago and Los Angeles, not coincidentally passing through Avery's adopted hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Just 800 of its 2,500 miles were paved in the new route's first year.
Ahead of Route 66's 97th birthday, Stacker curated a slideshow highlighting the construction and early years of the iconic American road.
In Tulsa, highway supportersāincluding Averyāin 1927 formed the U.S. 66 Highway Association, an advocacy group to promote the new highway to drivers and tourists, as well as to policymakers who could approve funds for paving. The highway became nationally famous and earned the moniker "the Main Street of America."
A major boost to the road's popularity came from John Steinbeck's 1939 book "The Grapes of Wrath," in which the author nicknamed Route 66 "the Mother Road" and chronicled the fictional Joad family's trip along the highway from Dust Bowl Oklahoma to the fruit fields of California. In the economic boom following the Great Depression and World War II, familiesālured by history, popular culture, and countless tourist attractionsāpiled into their vehicles and set out to explore Route 66.
The Interstate Highway Act of 1956 heralded the road's decline, as the smaller U.S. routes were supplanted by massive, multilane interstates. But nostalgia kept the myth alive and even resulted in a resurgence of attention. Much of the original Route 66 received a National Scenic Byway designation, with many stretches featuring tourist attractions, lodging, and food aimed at road-trippers exploring one of America's most iconic roads.
Keep reading to discover more history of the iconic Route 66.