“Get your kicks on Route 66” was a popular song written by Bobby Troup in 1946. The song talks about the famed stretch of highway which runs from Chicago to Los Angeles, and all the sights and sounds you will see in between. Troup wrote the song as a tribute to automobile travel using Route 66, when riding the highway during an east to west drive to LA.
During the early 1900’s the automobile started to be mass produced and became affordable for many Americans. This increase in car usage and car travel led to the need for highways for people to travel on. In the 1920’s, the United States created the U.S. Highway System, which was a series of highways connecting the country. One of the first highways established in the U.S. Highway System was Route 66, which starting on November 11, 1926, ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. The original route took drivers through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and California. Route 66 was nearly 2,500 miles in length and was a very popular route for the now mobile country.
The route became a key aspect of the growing westward expansion in the country in the 1930’s, with many people traveling the highway and settling down somewhere along the route, or eventually at the end in California. Because of the popularity of Route 66, the areas surrounding the highway started to be attractive for businesses, with many new towns, stores, motels and restaurants dotting the map along the route. During the early to mid 20th Century, Route 66 was a booming area.
However, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 brought the advent of the U.S. Interstate Highway System, and it also signaled the end of highways such as Route 66. The Interstate Highway System was a much larger network of highways, many of which were multi-lanes, which allowed motorists a more direct route to their destinations. Instead of taking a scenic drive on Route 66, drivers would now use one of the interstate routes, saving them quite a bit of time.
The interstate system was a boom to drivers, but became the downfall of the businesses and towns along Route 66. In 1985, because of the decrease in usage, the U.S. removed Route 66 from the United States Highway System.
Despite the decrease in usage, Route 66 will have a fond place in the hearts of many travelers. The song “Got My Kicks on Route 66” written by Troup was recorded by performers such as the Nat King Cole Trio and the Rolling Stones. In the 1960’s a television show called “Route 66” was a popular program which focused on the famed highway. And, the Disney/Pixar movie “Cars” was set in a small town that was on Route 66, and told the story of the ups and downs of the highway to a new generation.
Route 66 may not be the vibrant highway that it once was, but it will always have a place in America’s history, and has been the subject of several preservation projects over the years. We’ve put together a selection of resources to help remember the famed Route 66: