Route 66 in the News
Birth of 66 Told in Documentary
2006-09-21 09:43:55
It travels through eight states over some 2,400 miles, but its birth — in name, at least — began in Springfield.
The pioneers of Route 66 actually wanted the highway designated Route 60, but that was taken. After much wrangling, a group of businessmen involved with creating the road — among them Cyrus Avery of Tulsa, Okla., and John Woodruff of Springfield — settled on 66, which hadn't been assigned.
They telegraphed their decision to Washington, D.C., from the basement of the Colonial Hotel on Jefferson Avenue, and Route 66 received its numerical designation in 1926.
"Cyrus Avery is considered the father of 66, but the birthplace is in Springfield," says Tommy Pike, president of the Route 66 Association of Missouri. "I'm sure Tulsa would like to be able to claim the birthplace. That belongs to Springfield."
Other parts of Route 66 belong to Springfield, too, as well as Missouri, a connection explored in "Route 66: Missouri's Mother Road," an original, locally produced documentary airing tonight on Ozarks Public Television. The documentarians travel Route 66 from St. Louis to Joplin and combine personal stories with historical background.
"We want to create an entertainment blend of what the past, present and preservation effort is," says Tom Carter, the show's producer, director and writer and OPT's programming and production manager. "We try to focus on what the great things are about Route 66."
The idea for the now-legendary road that linked large portions of rural America and carried thousands of people to California in search of work during the 1930s Depression and Dust Bowl is largely credited to Avery, originally from Chicago.
Avery and Woodruff became acquainted through the Ozarks Trail Association, a group of businessmen from southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas, northwest Arkansas and northeast Oklahoma whose purpose was to promote travel to this area, says Pike, who's featured in "Route 66."
"Then Avery saw the advantage of having a road that ran from Chicago to the West Coast," he says.
It might be difficult for modern travelers used to the speed of interstate travel to realize the significance of connecting small towns. Roads existed between New York and Chicago, but you were largely out of luck once you headed west of Chicago, says Skip Curtis, a local author who's written about Route 66 and is part of the OPT documentary.
Route 66 ran on existing downtown streets, and roads that connected one town to the next were paved, Curtis says. That's why Avery dubbed Route 66 the "Main Street of America."
The highway follows what were once American Indian trails and wagon train routes, which is why it curves so much, Curtis says. It was easier to go around a steep hill than go up it.
"Route 66 was like a giant snake going back and forth," he says.
Between 1926 and 1928, Route 66 came through Stafford and down Missouri 125 to Division Street, over to Glenstone Avenue, onto St. Louis Street and into Springfield's downtown.
In 1928, Route 66 hooked into the newly built Kearney Street before hitting Glenstone, Pike says. By the mid-1930s, Kearney had been extended to West Bypass, or what was called West 66 Bypass, he says.
By 1932, Missouri's Route 66 was completely paved, Curtis says.
Eventually, interstates became the preferred method of auto travel, thanks to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who saw a need for the means to quickly mobilize troops and materials.
"Route 66: Missouri's Mother Road" — the name references John Steinbeck's description of Route 66 as the Mother Road in "The Grapes of Wrath" — focuses on the human element, Carter says.
"The thing that always moves me the most é are the people that are involved," he says.
Adds Curtis: "These are local crews talking to local folks."
Viewers will learn about the connection of Springfield's Gillioz Theatre to the famed highway, and they will hear from the late Julia Cheney, who owned Red's Giant Hamburg, a famous and now-defunct hamburger joint, with husband Red.
The documentary ties into a special membership drive.
Locally produced programming is more expensive than airing something from PBS, says Arlen Diamond, OPT's director of broadcast services.
"The message we want people to remember is we can't do things like this without membership support," he says. "We always want to be doing programming that will remind all of us who we are and where we came from."
People had fun making "Route 66," and it shows in the final product, Curtis says.
"It's about Route 66 in Missouri, but above all it's entertainment," he says. "And what makes it so entertaining are the people. ... The people who traveled it, the people who built it."
~Tresa McBee, for the Springfield News-Leader
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