Route+66's+History

Route 66's History

In 1920 the American government approved the building in order to connect Chicago and Los Angeles. It was proposed by entrepreneurs like Cyrus Avery, a businessman in Tulsa, Oklahoma and John Woodruff of Springfield, Missouri. They saw the need to link both of these cities along a Southwestern route. Route 66 received the nickname of Mother Road by John Steinbeck, in his famous social commentary in his classic novel The Grapes of Wrath that discussed about the problems of the Great Depression and about the people were looking for a job. His commentary served to make sure Route 66 in the American consciousness. The government intended to turn the muddy road into a modern road that could increase the access of people from the countryside to the metropolitan cities. When the Great Depression came up, Route 66 was the most accessible way to give people hope and possibilities to achieve a better life. That time, unemployed people from Chicago moved to Los Angeles to find these opportunities. In the Second World War, Route 66 was the union of the country, because it was the symbol of the largest military mobilization in American history. Route 66 helped to the government to give jobs opportunities to young people since Route 66 was the first paved road. According to cultural geographer Arthur Krim, Route 66 was the symbolic river of America moving west was in the twentieth century highways. For others, the public road was a lifeline of trade. Since its inception in 1926, U.S. Highway 66 was designed to connect rural communities to their respective capital cities. In doing so, gas stations, motels, restaurants and grocery stores were built in hopes of serving an increasingly mobile public. The first McDonald's in the world originated on Route 66 in San Bernadino. Store owners, motel managers, and gas station attendants recognized early on that even the poorest travelers needed lodging, food, proper car maintenance. Just as New Deal programs to support employment, from employment with the construction and maintenance of Route 66, the appearance of countless tourist courts, garages, and dinners promised sustained economic growth after the completion of the road. Route 66 helped to facilitate the mobilization of human resources. Between 1941 and 1945 the government invested about $ 70 billion in capital projects throughout California, a large proportion of which in the Los Angeles-San Diego. This effort served enormous capital to underwrite entirely new industries that created thousands of civilian jobs. However, when interstate highways were introduced in the 1960s to increase speed and reduce travel time, the economic base stimulated by the appearance of Route 66 began to crumble. With its desactivation it was awarded the status of "Historic". Route 66 was the result of America's infatuation with rapid mobility, mass transportation, and technological change. Many of the states along the route pledged to preserve some symbol of the historic highway with signs reading "OId U.S. 66." One indisputable result of the construction of Route 66 was the transformation of the far west from a rural frontier to a metropolitan region.