November 11

U.S. Highway 66 was designated on November 11, 1926, by the Joint Board on Interstate Highways, a group of state officials that established roadway standards. Road signs were erected the following year. Route 66 ran from Chicago through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, ending at Los Angeles, covering nearly 2,500 miles. It connected the main streets of rural and urban communities along its route, for which it was an economic lifeline, and it was a thoroughfare for western migration, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Roadside attractions proliferated. In 1938 it became the first highway to be completely paved. Piece by piece, the “Mother Road” was replaced by the Interstate Highway System. It was decommissioned as a U.S. Highway in 1985, and road signs were removed.