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Historians trying to fill in ROUTE 66 history ... looking for help

Melensdad

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
One of my bucket list items was to ride Route 66 on motorcycles. We intended to do it the year that Covid hit, but then, just as the world shut down we were delivered a 2 month old baby boy as a foster son . . . The history of "the Mother Road" has always intrigued me. Looks like some researchers are trying to fill in some gaps in the history of the road too.

Do you have any information, family history with the road or stories you can share with the researchers?

Story from St Louis Public Radio:
www.kcur.org

There are gaps in Route 66 history. Missouri researchers want your stories to fill them

The State Historical Society of Missouri wants your stories, photos and memories of Route 66 to build a collection and public exhibit in 2026.
www.kcur.org www.kcur.org

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There are gaps in Route 66 history. Missouri researchers want your stories to fill them​

The State Historical Society of Missouri wants your stories, photos and memories of Route 66 to build a collection and public exhibit in 2026.​

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Mary Delach Leonard | St. Louis Public Radio​
The iconic Route 66 is approaching its 100th birthday. To celebrate the centennial in 2026, the State Historical Society of Missouri is collecting items and anecdotes about “America’s Main Street.”​
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While much of the route’s rich history is well preserved, researchers are hoping to “fill in historical gaps” by recording the experiences of women, immigrants and African Americans who traveled or lived near the historic highway, said Sean Rost, assistant director of research at the historical society.​
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Only portions of the road remain in use, but the highway remains a source of nostalgia, explained Katie Seal, coordinator at the Rolla and Springfield Research Centers for the historical society.​
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“People across different areas, rural and urban, were meeting and interacting. You had generations of people who lived and worked or traveled along Route 66 and it really just became this big icon … the tourist attraction was simply being on the road,” Seal said.​
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Researchers are building an archival collection and an exhibit that opens to the public in 2026. To submit your stories, contact the State Historical Society of Missouri at contact@shsmo.org.​
 
I spent my life traveling this road.
Church summer camp was in Aurora MO near Lebanon. Road a Greyhound bus at the age of 5 until I was 16
Bennett Springs State Park was also near Lebanon. Can you say trout fly fishing?

Merrimac caverns, Onondaga cave state park. Merrimac river system.

Most of the Mo Ozarks are located just south of Old 66. Virtually every weekend from Spring to late fall was spent on that road.

My mother's extended relatives lived in southern Kansas/Oklahoma.

And of course, once we lived in Bolingbrook for 7 years, just south of Chicago, we were on the Illinois version at least twice a month.

To my family it was the mother road.
Still is.

We travel I-44 to our Ozark property
 
The "mother road" is the Lincoln highway. First transcontinental transportation corridor that included a railroad.
Predated Route 66 by a couple of decades. 66 is the first Federal highway, not the first highway.
The Lincoln Highway runs from Times Square NY to San Fransisco.
The Lincoln Highway was paid for with private moneys from many sources including the fledgling car manufactures as well as landowners
along the route. I live in the county that first paved it across the county in Iowa.
Sorry but I felt the need to clarify all this.
 
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Lincoln Hwy indeed the first route across the US. I've lived very close to it my entire life, but it is not referred to as the mother road. Route 66 is referred to, commonly, as the "mother road" and often also as the "main street of the US." I don't know why. But just type mother road into a search engine and the hits pop up as Route 66, referring to it as the mother road. Plug in Lincoln Highway and hits come referencing 'first transcontinental highway for motorcars'

Lincoln Hwy => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Highway

Route 66 => https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_66
 
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