Route 66 was established 100 years ago this week. While the historic 2,238 mile highway stretched from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California, its origins lay in Springfield, Missouri. In 1926, Cyrus Avery — or the "father of Route 66" —- sent a telegram from the Colonial Hotel in Springfield to Washington, D.C., asking to designate the Chicago-Santa Monica road as Route 66.
Katie Seale of the Missouri State Historical Society said the route helped keep the city's economy booming.
"Especially some of the smaller rural towns were actually able to continue to exist and thrive during the Great Depression because some of these people were actually able to have a cottage industry or were able to open a hotel or a restaurant or a service station to cater to the people that were traveling," Seale said.
Ned Mayes with the Joplin History and Mineral Museum said the highway experienced its heyday right after World War II.
"People were ready to move on, and then the baby boom hit, so people were vacationing," Mayes said. "What'd they do? Let's go to the Grand Canyon. Let's go to Hollywood. Let's go wherever. And most of it was down the southwest to the national parks, right down Route 66."
One of those vacationers was Bobby Troup, who traveled on Route 66 with his wife. Together they wrote the song "Get Your Kicks on Route 66."
Troup mentioned Joplin, Missouri, in the song because it worked with the rest of the lyrics, which helped put the city on the map. Mayes believes the first live performance of "Get Your Kicks" was by the Nat King Cole Trio at Joplin's Memorial Hall.
The unique thing about the eight-state highway is that it went right through the average American town. There are still remnants of Route 66 across the original highway, like Spencer Station in Miller, Missouri.
The hybrid barbershop and gas station is tucked away off of Southwest Missouri's main highway. It's one of the four places in the country that has the original pavement from Route 66.
Ed Klein has owned the station since 2015. His tagline is "there's nothing like Spencer Station."
"People who travel the road know there are so many motels and so many restaurants and even gas station museums and really catchy little things, but there's nothing really like this," said Klein.
Twentieth-century antiques fill the store. The walls and flooring are original. The barbershop has supplies and pamphlets from the early 1900s. Sidney Casey was the original owner of the station. His descendants gave Klein original receipts and artifacts from when Casey owned the station.
The road's heyday lasted until construction of the Interstate Highway System started in 1956. The last part of Route 66 was bypassed in 1984. Authorities designated portions of the road as aNational Scenic Byway or Historic Route 66, but tourism to small American towns ultimately died down.
Mayes remembers his father telling him what it was like to live in Joplin during that time.
"He told me the day they opened the interstate, he said it was like the lights went out."
Then in 1990, Michael Wallis wrote “Route 66: The Mother Road.” He said he wanted to keep the legacy of Route 66 alive. He grew weary of people referring to Route 66 in the past tense.
"People growing winter wheat or renting rooms for the night or serving blue plate specials or pumping gas, I knew they were still there,” Wallis said. “So I wrote this book for them and for others so they would know that Route 66 was not dead and it's still alive.”
Wallis is considered the second father of Route 66 and is credited with revitalizing America's interest in the road. His book helped inspire the movie “Cars.” Wallis even had a small part in the movie as the voice of the Sheriff.
Route 66 is special for Wallis. feels drawn to the road and the desire to preserve its history. Originally from the St. Louis area, he's lived in seven of the eight states along the route. It’s where he grew up and learned how to drive.
"So when I see this in my mind's eyes from Chicago winding through these eight states, I don't see state boundaries, I don't see county lines, I don't see city limits," Wallis said. "I see a seamless winding, crooked snake, a village, self-contained, all the way from Lake Michigan to the Pacific."
Wallis said there's always something new to explore along the route. He and his wife, Suzanne, have seen and experienced it firsthand.
"People still ask me, they say, when you and Suzanne go out on the road, don't you get bored, you've been there so many times? I said, of course it's not because we always find something new," he said.
Joe Sonderman is an author, collector and expert on Route 66 history. He said he's made friends because of their shared interest in the route. He said there's more to Route 66 than the stops along the way.
"But the reason I keep hearing over and over again why it is important is that Route 66 is not about pavement. Route 66 is about people. Traveling Route 66, you go through the heart of the towns and you actually speak to people." Sonderman said.
The 100th anniversary of Route 66 has caused swaths of tourists to visit the History and Mineral Museum in Joplin and the visitor center in Baxter Springs, Kansas.
The Missouri Route 66 Centennial Commission has allocated $150,000 to help communities obtain large interactive Route 66 signs. The 12-foot 3-D interactive sign is a replica of the famous black-and-white Route 66 sign.
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