U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America or the Mother Road, was one of the original highways in the U.S. Highway System. US 66 was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km). It was recognized in popular culture by both the hit song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" and the Route 66 television series, which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964. In John Steinbeck's classic American novel, The Grapes of Wrath (1939), the road "Highway 66" symbolized escape and loss.
Sayre is a small city in, and the county seat of, Beckham County, in western Oklahoma, United States. It is halfway between Oklahoma City, and Amarillo, Texas, on Interstate 40 and the former U.S. Route 66. The population was 4,375 at the 2010 census, the largest recorded by a census since Sayre's founding. The total was an increase of 6.3 percent from the 2000 census.
Texola is a town in Beckham County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 36 at the 2010 census.
U.S. Route 66 in the state of Texas extended across the Texas Panhandle from its designation in 1926 to its decommissioning in 1985.
The historic U.S. Route 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway after Oklahoma native Will Rogers, ran from west to northeast across the state of Oklahoma, along the path now taken by Interstate 40 (I-40) and State Highway 66 (SH-66). It passed through Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and many smaller communities. West of the Oklahoma City area, it has been largely replaced by I-40; the few independent portions that are still state-maintained are now I-40 Business. However, from Oklahoma City northeast to Kansas, the bypassing I-44 is mostly a toll road, and SH-66 remains as a free alternate.
The U-Drop Inn, also known as Tower Station and U-Drop Inn and Tower Café, was built in 1936 in Shamrock, Texas along the historic Route 66 highway. Inspired by the image of a nail stuck in soil, the building was designed by J. C. Berry. An unusual example of art deco architecture applied to a gas station and restaurant, the building features two flared towers with geometric detailing, curvilinear massing, glazed ceramic tile walls, and neon light accents. It has traditionally held two separate business: "Tower Station", a gas station on the western side, and the "U-Drop Inn", a café on the eastern side. Though it has passed hands several times in its history, the building has consistently housed the same types of businesses it was originally constructed for.
66 Drive-In is a historic drive-in theater national historic district located on U.S. Route 66 in Carthage, Jasper County, Missouri. The theater opened on September 22, 1949, four years before the first local television stations signed on in the Joplin-Springfield area. In an era before widespread adoption of transistors and before the invention of integrated circuits, car radios were not standard equipment in all vehicles. The few radios installed in vehicles were of vacuum tube design and power-hungry by modern standards. A series of poles in the car park of the nine-acre site were therefore deployed to hold loudspeakers so that viewers could hear the movie.
The Rock Café in Stroud, Oklahoma, a historic restaurant on U.S. Route 66, takes its name from the local sandstone used in its construction.
The Chandler Armory building in Chandler, Oklahoma is an Art Deco military building which now houses the Route 66 Interpretive Center, a museum devoted to understanding the construction and history of U.S. Route 66. The structure is apparently notable for having the only brick outhouse in Oklahoma, complete with original French fixture. It was built of local red sandstone by the Works Progress Administration between 1935 and 1937 as a home for Battery F, Second Battalion of the 160th Field Artillery of the Oklahoma National Guard, 45th Infantry division, and after vacation by the military in 1971 was vacant until becoming the home of the museum in 2007. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
The Coleman Theatre is a historic performance venue and movie house located on historic U.S. Route 66 in Miami, Oklahoma. Built in 1929 for George Coleman, a local mining magnate, it has a distinctive Spanish Colonial Revival exterior, and an elaborate Louis XV interior. It was billed as the most elaborate theater between Dallas and Kansas City at the time of its opening, and played host to vaudeville acts, musical groups, and movies.
Avant's Cities Service Station is a historic service station located at 220 S. Choctaw in El Reno, Oklahoma. The Art Deco building was constructed in 1933 as a service station for Cities Service Company to fuel automobiles traveling on U.S. Route 66. The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The Milk Bottle Grocery, located at 2426 N. Classen Boulevard in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a grocery building with a large metal Braum's milk bottle atop its roof. The store was constructed in 1930, and the milk bottle was added in 1948. The bottle was designed to draw attention to the store, as the tall bottle would be visible to automobile traffic along Classen Boulevard, which was part of U.S. Route 66 at the time; it also served as an advertisement for the dairy industry. The store is also one of the few triangular buildings in Oklahoma City, as it occupies a corner lot in an area where Classen Boulevard cuts diagonally through the city's street grid. Due to its shape, the store was known as the Triangle Grocery from 1940 until 1948, when it became the Milk Bottle Grocery due to its new statue.
The Beckham County Courthouse, located in Courthouse Square in Sayre, is the county courthouse of Beckham County, Oklahoma. The courthouse is considered a local landmark because it is the tallest building in Sayre. It is also one of the few courthouses in Oklahoma that has a dome.
The West Winds Motel is a historic motel located on old U.S. Route 66 in Erick, Oklahoma. The motel opened in the mid-1940s to serve travelers on Route 66; at the time, tourism drove Erick's economy, and the motel was one of several in the city. The motel had a typical motor court layout with two lodging buildings and an office forming a "U" shape around a central courtyard. The lodging buildings have a Mission Revival design with stucco walls and red metal roofs designed to resemble tile. The motel units have individual garage spaces in front of their entrances, a style which was common in the 1930s and 1940s but fell out of favor in later years.
The Casa Grande Hotel is a historic hotel located at the intersection of 3rd Street and historic U.S. Route 66 in downtown Elk City, Oklahoma. The hotel opened in 1928, shortly after Route 66 was designated, to lodge the growing number of travelers on the highway. Architects Hawk and Parr designed the four-story building in the Spanish Eclectic style; their design features arched windows and doors and stone ornamentation along the arches. Spanish-influenced styles such as the Spanish Eclectic were common on the southwestern portion of Route 66 due to the region's Spanish history. The luxury hotel faded in popularity after the 1920s, and as a result, the Casa Grande is the only high-rise hotel on Route 66 between Oklahoma City and Amarillo, Texas.
The Magnolia Service Station is a historic service station located on Old U.S. Route 66 in Texola, Oklahoma. The station, an affiliate of the Magnolia Petroleum Company, opened circa 1930. The station was one of the westernmost in Oklahoma and became one of the first stops for eastbound travelers to buy gas and auto services in the state. The main building of the service station is representative of the "house" style of filling station; such stations resembled small houses in order to fit into residential areas.
The Sayre Champlin Service Station is a historic service station located on old U.S. Route 66 in Sayre, Oklahoma. The station, an affiliate of the Champlin Refining Company, was built in 1934; it replaced an older station which predated Route 66. Its main building has a Streamline Moderne design which features oval pilasters and horizontal sections, plate glass and multi-light windows, and a contrasting color scheme. The station provided both gasoline and automobile services to Route 66 travelers; in addition, the large tanker trucks used to supply the station's gasoline contributed to the highway's traffic. After Interstate 40 bypassed Route 66 in 1958, business at the station declined, and it closed permanently in 1967.
The Sayre Rock Island Depot is a historic railroad station located at 106 E. Poplar Ave. in Sayre, Oklahoma. The depot was built in 1927 along the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad ; it replaced Sayre's original Rock Island station, which opened outside the town limits in 1901. The new station is just two blocks north of downtown Sayre. It accommodated the increased traffic the line had gained in the early 1920s; it also helped the railroad compete with the recently designated U.S. Route 66. The station building was built from and has an Italian Renaissance Revival design. Its design resembles two other surviving Rock Island stations in Oklahoma: the Hobart Depot and the Walters Depot.
The J. W. Danner House is a historic house located at 408 N. Fourth St. in Sayre, Oklahoma. J. W. Danner, one of the first landowners in Sayre, built the house for himself circa 1905; it is one of the city's oldest buildings. Danner built the house using triangular concrete blocks made from a block machine, a previously unseen construction style. He later used his home as a model for several other triangular block buildings in Sayre, giving the city a locally distinctive building style.
The Sayre Downtown Historic District is a commercial historic district located in downtown Sayre, Oklahoma. The district comprises a three-block area of Main and 4th Streets; it includes 39 buildings, of which 24 are contributing buildings. The oldest buildings in the district date from between 1903 and 1909, when a building boom replaced Sayre's frame downtown buildings with brick Commercial style structures. By the 1920s, the downtown area had reached its current size, and most of the buildings in the district had been built. In the 1920s, U.S. Route 66 was routed through the district, increasing traffic for local businesses. Sayre's Classical Revival post office, a contributing property, was constructed in 1938; the post office includes a Works Progress Administration mural painted in 1940. The downtown remained prosperous until the 1950s, when population decline and the bypassing of Route 66 led to a decrease in commercial activity.
