Heritage, Volume 9, Number 1, Winter 1991 Page: 14
29 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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In 1928, a grand scheme to
promote the highway was hatched
in the form of a First Annual
International Transcontinental
Foot Race. Informally named
the Bunion Derby, it started in
Los Angeles, covered Route 66
in its entirety, and from Chicago,
continued east to New York
City. Of 275 entrants, 55 finished.
The $25,000 grand prize
went to Oklahoman and firsttime
runner, Andy Payne. The
Second Annual International
Transcontinental Foot Race is
yet to be run. This promotion
put Highway 66 in the American
consciousness and established
a dramatic beginning to In 1926
the highway's colorful history. natat
As people headed west by car
in unprecedented numbers, motor courts,
filling stations, and cafes became common
features of the highway. These buildings of
the early to mid-twentieth century were of
new forms and styles. They were generally
more horizontal with less ornamentation
than in the past. More playful building
forms began appearing, as did the predecessors
to the drive-in. One of the exceptional
attractions on Route 66 in the Panhandle
was the famous Nat ballroom, once
existing in the shape of a steamship with a
castle on the front. Located on West Sixth
Street in Amarillo, the hall attracted the
big bands of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s,
including Count Basie, Cab Calloway and
Louis Armstrong.
In the 1930s, the highway was traveled
by families who were fleeing the hardships
and drought brought on by the Great Depression
and the Dust Bowl. Amarillo provided
help for thousands of these people
through the operation of the Transient
Bureau under the Federal Emergency Relief
Administration. Other programs also
provided employment for local residents.
The Civil Works Administration (CWA),6 The Nat, on West Sixth Street in Amarillo, was converted
orium-indoor swimming pool-to a ballroom or "dance palalong with $7.5 million in road funds from
the federal government, paved a segment
of Route 66 east of Amarillo. This improved
a stretch known as Jerico Gap,
which had been a notorious mud trap following
rains. The Works Progress
Administration's (WPA) Depression
Relief Program employed thousands for the
paving of roads throughout the nation.
Amarillo, too, benefitted from this program.
Today, on curbs along West Sixth
Street, the WPA stamp can still be found.
Despite the hardships of the Depression,
and perhaps largely because of it, the
final stretches of Route 66 were paved in
1936. Up the road in Shamrock, the first
annual St. Patrick's Day Parade was celebrated
to commemorate the completion of
the highway through town. Motorcades
arrived in Amarillo from Chicago and Los
Angeles, in that year, to celebrate the first
all-paved highway from the Great Lakes to
the Pacific Coast. It was dedicated the Will
Rogers Memorial Highway.
In the early 1940s, the highway was
used by troops traveling through the midand
southwestern states. Following WorldWar II, Highway 66 carried returning
GIs and their families
to new homes or to play in the
California they had discovered
while in the service. The affluence
of the post-war era also
gave rise to an abundance of
automobiles produced to satisfy
pent up demand. A new affluence
brought more family
vacations and a new generation
of people discovering the
vast West. The highway transported
people through "Indian
Country," past the Grand Canyon,
to Hollywood, Disneyland,
and the Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, Nat King Cole was
i from a transforming the image of the
lace." highway with his original
recording of Bobby Troup's,
Get Your Kicks on Route 66, the first of
countless versions of the tune.
The highway's heyday began to decline
in the mid-1950s. President Eisenhower,
inspired by the German Autobahn, implemented
a federal aid highway act in 1956 to
establish a national interstate system. Such
legislation resulted in Route 66 succumbing
to the efficiency of five linked interstate
highways over the course of the next
twenty years.
By 1984, the Route was completely replaced
by the Interstate Highway System.
While many miles of the old highway are
still in use today, most segments have either
been absorbed by the new roads, are
overgrown with weeds, or are otherwise
neglected. The segments of highway that
pass through Amarillo's San Jacinto
Heights, Shamrock, and McLean remain
intact with many historic buildings left
standing. Areas such as these are in various
stages of revitalization across the country,
as residents and travelers rediscover the
recent past, and the many fond memories
that this particularly popular highway
afforded them.14 HERITAGE * WINTER 1991
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 9, Number 1, Winter 1991, periodical, Winter 1991; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45422/m1/14/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.