Route 66 100th Annivesary

1926 was a busy year for our nation, the United States. A lot happened that would have deep implications for our national identity and culture. You could say that 1926 opened many of the doors that would shape the 20th, and now the 21st, centuries into what they are today. Fitting, considering our nation was approaching its 150th anniversary at that point.

Courtesy ReasearchRoute66.org

For instance, did you know that the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was founded in 1926? The network would go on to produce legendary shows, from its early days on radio with Fibber McGee & Molly and Jack Benny, to television classics like Dragnet, Star Trek, Saturday Night Live, Friends, 30 Rock, The Tonight Show, and Law & Order.

Also, on the subject of show business, actress Marilyn Monroe was born in 1926. She is easily considered one of the most iconic American actresses of all time, leaving behind a number of memorable performances. Her legacy is so lasting that even decades after her death, she is still regularly talked about and considered a high bar for American glamour.

Getting back to the subject of transportation, United Airlines was also founded in 1926, starting off as a regional airmail line known as Varney Air Lines before adopting the name United Airlines in 1931.

Lastly, two other important things happened in 1926. On April 30, 1926, Route 66, or at least the concept of it, was born. This was the day the route was officially assigned the number “66.” There had been some debate over what the number should be, with 60 and 62 also in consideration. Some say “66” was chosen as a compromise, while others believe it was selected simply because it was easy to remember.

Additionally, on November 11, 1926, the numbered highway system was officially adopted, giving consistent numerical designations to major roads and improving how they were organized. This made it much easier for travelers driving across the country to stay on one route. It also solidified local, state, and federal government recognition of these roads and their maintenance, with Route 66 becoming one of the most notable.

Of course, as important as April 30, 1926, and November 11, 1926 are to the establishment of Route 66, those dates are really just the end of a much larger story.

Courtesy SciencePhotoLibrary.com

Just outside of Chicago, in the town of Joliet, Route 66 crosses another famous road: the Lincoln Highway. This is the road that Route 66, its sibling highways, and even its interstate successors owe much of their existence to. It’s a road that helped birth a new idea—making the automobile and the concept of cross-country travel a true possibility. A road that itself was built on the back of earlier chapters in American transportation history.

The Lincoln Highway stretched from coast to coast, starting in Times Square and ending in Golden Gate Park, all 13 years before Route 66 and the numbered highway system. The route was the brainchild of Carl G. Fisher, often considered a pioneer in automobiles and auto sales. It’s believed he operated one of the first car dealerships in the United States out of Indianapolis, Indiana, the same city where he would later help start the iconic Indianapolis 500 motor race, still watched every Memorial Day weekend.

Courtesy LetsGoIowa.com

Before that, Fisher made his mark in auto parts, inventing a new type of headlight that would become an industry standard and supplying many of the headlights used by American manufacturers at the time.

For Fisher, automobiles were both a passion and the cornerstone of his business. Promoting automobile travel was important to him on many levels.

The concept of a cross-country road came into focus after Fisher heard stories from Henry B. Joy about the many problems he encountered while attempting a cross-country trip in 1911. For Fisher, it was all he needed to push toward a better solution, making long-distance travel not just possible, but practical.

In 1912, Fisher began developing the concept of a continuous cross-country route. He and his supporters pieced together existing roads, trails, farm paths, and even railway and utility service roads to create a single route from New York to San Francisco. It required a great deal of coordination with state officials, local businesses, and landowners, but on September 14, 1913, it became a reality.

Soon, some states and towns began paving sections of the road, calling them “seed routes”, early promises of what the future of automobile travel could become. Many in the automotive industry also contributed, recognizing both the goodwill it generated and the opportunity to expand how people viewed their products beyond local travel. In its completed form, the route covered 13 states and over 3,300 miles.

The road quickly became famous, traveled by celebrities, politicians, and even presidents. In 1919, the United States Army staged a cross-country convoy to test the military implications of such a road. Among those on that trip was future World War II Supreme Commander and President, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

For Eisenhower, as well as the Army, the experience was eye-opening. It would later influence his support for the Interstate Highway System after he entered office in the 1950s. In a way, his experience on the Lincoln Highway helped shape both the birth of the interstate system—and the eventual decline of Route 66 as a primary U.S. route.

Essentially, it was because of the Lincoln Highway and its success that both state and federal governments began developing the numbered highway system that would come into being in 1926.

But just as Route 66 and its successors owe their existence to the Lincoln Highway, the Lincoln Highway itself can trace its roots back even further.

One of those predecessors was the First Transcontinental Railroad completion. Built by the Union Pacific Railroad building westward and the Central Pacific Railroad building eastward, the line was completed on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit. The driving of the Golden Spike marked the moment the United States was connected from coast to coast by rail.

Even that route had predecessors. During the same general era, there was the Pony Express. Before that, there were the well-known Oregon Trail and the lesser-known Mormon Trail.

The Mormon Trail followed the migration of Mormon settlers from Nauvoo, Illinois, eventually reaching Salt Lake City, Utah, often passing through Council Bluffs.

The Oregon Trail had starting points in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and St. Joseph, eventually merging near Grand Island, Nebraska. The Pony Express followed many of these same paths, while the Oregon Trail eventually branched northwest toward Fort Vancouver, Oregon.

These routes overlapped and evolved, forming a network that later transportation systems would follow in different ways.

Today, Interstate 80 serves as a modern counterpart to many of these historic paths. It actually begins in New Jersey and stretches all the way to California, passing through the Midwest—including the Chicago region—before continuing west toward Council Bluffs and beyond. It follows similar corridors through places like Salt Lake City, crosses the Bonneville Salt Flats, and reconnects with historic rail and trail routes in Nevada before continuing on to Sacramento and the Bay Area.

So what does all of this have to do with Route 66?

Despite not following the exact path of the Lincoln Highway and its many predecessors, Route 66 became their cultural successor. When the numbered highways were introduced, many complained that the naming convention lacked romance—it was just numbers after the word “Route.” But Route 66 became so much more than that, both in its own time and even now, 100 years later.

The Lincoln Highway and its predecessors may have opened the West and connected the country physically, but Route 66 gave that journey something else entirely.

It gave it identity.

It only seems appropriate that this road was born during a period when the United States itself was redefining how it moved and connected. Now, as we approach the 250th anniversary of the nation, Route 66—though no longer an official U.S. route since the late 1980s—still exists, and still represents what it always has:

Freedom.

Freedom to travel. Freedom to explore. Freedom to find something new just beyond the horizon.

Its existence, and its past, are connected to other roads that came before it—roads it may only physically cross once, but symbolically carries with it.

And in doing so, Route 66 continues to bring that legacy forward into the 20th century, the 21st century, and beyond.