|
Menu
Home
Route 66
History
2001 Rally
2006 Rally
Merchandise
Agencies
1953 Texas DPS
For Sale
Links
|
|
Route 66
History - 1945-1960
-
Postwar Years
-
The social dislocation and uprooting of
millions of Americans that began during the Great Depression and continued
through World War II did not abate with the surrender of Germany and
Japan. After the war Americans were more mobile than ever before.
Thousands of soldiers, sailors, and airmen who received military training
in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas abandoned the
harsh winters of Chicago, New York City, and Boston for the "barbecue
culture" of the Southwest and the West. Again, for many, Route 66
facilitated their relocation.
-
-
One
such emigrant was Robert William Troup, Jr., of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Bobby Troup, former pianist with the Tommy Dorsey band and ex-Marine
captain, penned a lyrical road map of the now famous cross-country road in
which the words, "get your kicks on Route 66" became a catch phrase for
countless motorists who moved back and forth between Chicago and the
Pacific Coast. One scholar likened the popular recording released in 1946
by Nat King Cole one week after Troup's arrival in Los Angeles to "a
cartographic ballad." No doubt Bobby Troup's musical rendition provided a
convenient mental road map for those who followed him west.
-
-
It
was during the postwar decades that the population shift from "snowbelt"
to "sunbelt" reached its zenith. Census figures for these years revealed
population growth along Route 66 ranged from 40% in New Mexico to 74% in
Arizona. Because of the great influx of people during the war years.
California claimed over half of the total population of the West between
1950 and 1980.
-
-
The Golden State attracted over 3 million new
residents in the 1960s and an additional 2 million in the 1970s. Based on
the census for 1980, "California displayed the most rapid and sizable
population development in the industrialized world in the forty years
following World War II." Los Angeles and San Diego rivaled New York and
Philadelphia as America's most rapidly growing cities. The demographic
disruption that began in the 1930s stimulated opportunities for roadside
commerce. Store owners, motel managers, and gas station attendants
recognized early on that even the poorest travelers required food,
automobile maintenance, and adequate lodging. Just as New Deal work relief
programs provided employment with the construction and the maintenance of
Route 66, the appearance of countless tourist courts. garages, and diners
promised sustained economic growth after the road's completion.
-
-
If military use of the highway during wartime
ensured the early success of roadside businesses, the demands of the new
tourism industry in the postwar decades gave rise to modern facilities
that guaranteed long-term prosperity. The evolution of these facilities is
well represented in the roadside architecture along U.S. Highway 66. For
example, most Americans who drove the route did not stay in hotels; they
preferred the accommodations that emerged from automobile travel motels.
Motels evolved from earlier features of the American roadside such as the
auto camp and the tourist home. The auto camp developed as townspeople
along Route 66 roped off spaces in which travelers could camp for the
night. Camp supervisors some of whom were employed by the various states
provided water, fuel wood, privies or flush toilets, showers, and laundry
facilities free of charge. Camp Joy near Lebanon, Missouri, and Red Arrow
Campground in Thoreau, New Mexico, are examples of auto camps that have
survived to the present day. The successor to the auto camp was the
tourist home, which provided many of the same amenities but with the added
feature of indoor lodging in the event of inclement weather.
-
-
The
natural outgrowth of the auto camp and tourist home was the cabin camp
(sometimes called cottages) that offered minimal comfort at affordable
prices. Many of these cottages are still in operation; among the better
known examples is John's Modern Cabins in Arlington, Missouri. Eventually,
auto camps and cabin camps gave way to motor courts in which all of the
rooms were under a single roof. Motor courts offered additional amenities
such as adjoining restaurants, souvenir shops and swimming pools. An
estimated 30,000 motor courts/motels were in operation along the nation's
many highways in 1948. Among the more famous still associated with Route
66 are the El Vado and Zia Motor Lodge in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the
Coral Court in St. Louis, Missouri.
-
-
In
the early years of Route 66, service station prototypes were developed
regionally through experimentation, and then were adopted universally
across the country. Buildings were distinctive as gas stations, yet
clearly associated with a particular petroleum company. Most evolved from
the simplest filling station concept a house with one or two service pumps
in front and then became more elaborate, with service bays and tire
outlets. Among the most outstanding examples of the evolution of gas
stations along Route 66 are Soulsby's Shell Station in Mount Olive,
lllinois; Bob Audette's gas station complex in Barton, New Mexico; and the
Tower Fina Station in Shamrock, Texas.
-
-
Route
66 and many points of interest along the way were familiar landmarks by
the time a new generation of postwar motorists hit the road in the 1960s.
Many drew upon memories from excursions with their parents. World War II
transformed the American public from a predominantly
agricultural-industrial laboring class to an urban-technological society
with increasing leisure and recreational time. The American tourists'
fondness for automobile travel and their enjoyment of sightseeing made
them ideal targets for the service industries that cropped up along U.S.
Highway 66. There was a growing fascination with American Indian cultures,
which became increasingly commercialized as public highways penetrated
once inaccessible reservations. This, coupled with the scenic, geologic,
prehistoric, and historic wonders protected by the national park system,
lured countless sightseers. To the average motorist, a trip down Route 66
was an adventure through mainstream America accentuated by quaint
Mom-and-Pop motels, all- night diners, garish Indian curio shops, and
far-too-infrequent restroom facilities.
-
- Text portions courtesy of the
National Park Service
More History Links
|
|
We Must Never Forget!
|
