The fabled 2,448-mile highway from Chicago to Santa Monica is established in 1926. It doesn’t receive signs until 1927 and isn’t completely paved until 1938. The highway passes through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending in California. A sign in Santa Monica marks its terminus.
Route 66 is the artery – it’s nicknamed the “Mother Road” — that transports immigrants west as they flee Dust Bowl and Depression in the 1930s. Replaced by interstates, the celebrated roadway is removed from the US Highway System in 1985.
Route 66 follows a government-funded wagon road along the 35th parallel built in 1857 by then Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale. Beale is a rancher, explorer and diplomat who plays a significant role in California’s early statehood. In World War II, Camp Beale near Yuba City – Beale Air Force Base – is named in his honor.
TOP Photo: Hwy 66, Victorville, California. 44-11-Houck Corona. (State Library Image 1999-0186)