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    Route 66: The Mother Road
    Route 66: The Mother Road
    Route 66: The Mother Road
    Ebook102 pages52 minutes

    Route 66: The Mother Road

    By David Knudson

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    About this ebook

    Begun in 1926 to connect Chicago to Los Angeles, Route 66 was the country's first major east-west thoroughfare. By 1930 it was an important route for both truckers and travellers alike, and in 1939 it became known as 'The Mother Road' thanks to John Steinbeck's classic The Grapes of Wrath. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of Americans travelled this great road from those heading west during the Great Depression to postwar families taking road trips across the country – but by the 1970s four-lane highways, expressways, and tollways had largely supplanted it, and Route 66 fell into disrepair. In this book, authority David Knudson traces the fascinating story of The Mother Road from origins to decline, including the roadside attractions and cottage industries it spawned and the efforts to save and restore it.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateOct 10, 2012
    ISBN9780747812777
    Route 66: The Mother Road

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      Book preview

      Route 66 - David Knudson

      image1

      ROUTE 66

      David Knudson

      SHIRE PUBLICATIONS

      Opened in 1938, Roy’s was more than a desert mirage for weary travelers.

      CONTENTS

      It was common for travelers to caravan together for physical and moral support as they drove across the desert. Here a caravan stops, likely to let cars and passengers alike cool down.

      THE BIRTH OF ROUTE 66

      REVITALIZING THE MOTHER ROAD

      EXPLORING ROUTE 66

      PLACES TO VISIT

      FURTHER READING

      From the 1930s through the 1940s, it is estimated that 210,000 people fled the Dust Bowl in the Midwest in all manner of conveyance and migrated to California. John Steinbeck immortalized their plight in his epic novel, The Grapes of Wrath.

      THE BIRTH OF ROUTE 66

      THE BEGINNING

      Cyrus Stevens Avery (August 31, 1871–July 2, 1963) of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was known as the Father of Route 66. Born in Stevensville, Pennsylvania, Avery eventually became one of Oklahoma’s best-known highway advocates and civic leaders.

      After moving with his parents to Missouri in 1881, young Avery had little formal education. At the age of nineteen, however, he qualified to teach in a country school. He then worked his way through William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, graduating in 1897. In 1901, he moved to what was then known as Oklahoma Territory and sold life insurance in Oklahoma City. In 1904, he moved his business to Vinita, Oklahoma, and expanded into real estate loans. Then, foreseeing a strong future in the emerging oil industry, he relocated to Tulsa and launched Avery Oil and Gas Company in 1907.

      Avery’s interests were varied, reaching far beyond the oil industry to farming, real estate development, and government. He served on the Tulsa County Commission from 1913–16 and on the Tulsa Water Board in the early 1920s, where he was instrumental in bringing water to the rapidly growing city.

      Goldroad/Sitgreaves Pass, Arizona, is an early stretch of Route 66 between Oatman and Kingman that was modern in its day. The road was challenging to build and remains a challenge to motorists today. The harrowing stretch was mercifully bypassed by the divided, two-lane interstate early in 1953.

      Cyrus Stevens Avery of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was known as the Father of Route 66. He was nearly singlehandedly responsible for the development of Route 66.

      Avery believed that well-planned and maintained roads and a system of interstate highways would bring prosperity to Oklahoma and its towns and cities. He became an avid member of several transcontinental road associations that were working to improve roads throughout the country, including the Oklahoma Good Roads Association, the Albert Pike Highway Association, and the pre-World War I National Ozark Trail Association.

      Modern roads were not appreciated by everyone, however, particularly in the farm belt. Many opposed the taxes they generated, and those who drove slow-moving farm equipment along the roads often felt threatened by faster vehicles. But Avery saw beyond that fear to the future—a future that would be driven by automobiles.

      Avery soon spearheaded the National Ozark Trail Association. (The trail itself eventually evolved into U.S. Highway 66.) He served as vice president of the U.S. 66 Highway Association in 1927, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture placed him on the Joint Board of Interstate Highways from 1925–27. During this time, he also served as one of Oklahoma’s highway commissioners from 1922 through 1926.

      A look at the Farmersville filling station in Illinois.

      The 1920s saw the notion of a national highway system take off. Legislation for public highways had first appeared in 1916 with the Federal Aid Road Act, with revisions made in 1921 with the Federal Aid Highway Act, but it was not until Congress

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