by Ann Hinds

Created on: June 24, 2010

Route 66 was famous long before it became an American icon. Old timers talk about how they loaded their families and all their possessions into cars and trucks and headed west. They came from many states in search of a better life.  

The road was established in 1926 to become a "continuously paved" road between Chicago, IL and Santa Monica, CA. There were many small towns that were inaccessible at that time and the road was designed to connect them on one road. It became even more important when the stock market crashed in October 1929. The Great Depression was made even worse during the early 1930's with the dust storms that swept the Midwest. The largest of the storms was on Black Sunday, April 14, 1935. It was estimated that the storms swept 100 million acres free of topsoil, making farming impossible.  With the dust storms and families already out of work, many went west looking for a better life. By the late 1930's the road was already well-known.

The economic recovery came with World War II. Families who had migrated west found jobs in war related occupations. At the end of the war, Route 66 was once again a favorite route. It provided a way to visit the loved ones left behind and a new way to vacation. Travel trailers became popular and families were able to travel and camp on the side of the road. Many of the small towns on the route prospered. Children growing up in the 1950’s became familiar with the road as they traveled it frequently. Truckers preferred the road as it missed most of the colder weather on the more northern routes.

 It was made even more famous with the television debut of Route 66 on October 7, 1960. The series was filmed almost entirely on location. Although it veered off the road and went to other locations, the corvette and the stars captured the attention of the youngsters who were already familiar with the route.

When the road was decommissioned in 1985, the towns began to fade away. Interstate 40 bypassed most of the smaller towns and Route 66 was destined to disappear. The towns started to decay but the route survived.  Much of it was due, in part, to the youngsters who traveled it in the 1950's. and 1960's. The lure of the road gave them a chance to look back to a simpler time. The road also offered visitors a chance to view an amazing collection of Americana. Route 66 stopped being just a highway and instead became a destination in itself. Tourists from all over the world come to drive the Mother Road from Santa Monica to Chicago. The road is littered with remains of it heyday and is dotted with museums. It is hard to shake the romance and the nostalgia of the highway that was so much a part of America's history.

When the movie "Cars" was released in 2006, the baby-boomers who had traveled the road as children instantly recognized the setting. The movie has only enhanced the mystic and lure of the old highway. Route 66 is famous because it was and still is America's Highway

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