Opinion: Springfield’s role in Route 66 paved the way for economic growth

John Sellars

Kids are born and raised in lots of unpredictable places and experience life in a multitude of ways, however the landscape I was exposed to right outside my front door had an incredible impact on my entire life. You see, outside my family’s front door was the Mother Road – Route 66 – and the events that transpired there helped make me what I am today.

For most of the first 12 years of my life, the Mother Road was a mere 50 feet from the steps of the front porch of the house we called home. In the 1950s and early ’60s, it was one of the most exciting and interesting places on Earth to grow up. It was just like any other neighborhood to grow up in with the addition of a constant hum of trucks and cars making their way from someplace to somewhere else on the two-lane strip of concrete that connected Chicago with the West Coast. Today, some 70 years later, there is an amazing interest in the highway and its impact on the country and all of the people in it.

Springfield has been a prime example of the way the highway built the cities along its route. When the numbered highway plan began in the 1920s, Springfield was already growing as a commercial center and railroad town. The city was growing and developing as a crossroads of transportation by rail through the Midwest. Gaining a numbered highway to add motor transportation to the already growing economy would be all that was needed to accelerate the growth to a new level. People like businessperson John T. Woodruff could see the impact on the future of the area began to work very hard to put together a plan that included Springfield in this new endeavor. These actions would later lead to the city claiming the moniker of The Birthplace of Route 66.

At first, it seemed to be going very well with the highway they had helped design awarded the number 60 in the highway system which designated it as one of the most important routes. Sadly, after some political manipulations by the governor of Kentucky, the number 60 was withdrawn and number 62 offered in its place. No one on the committee was happy with this change and they chose not to accept the number. They said they would take it under advisement and let the highway commission know their decision later. Luckily, a chance meeting of some of the committee members at a Rotary Club meeting in Springfield allowed them to discover that the number 66 was still available. After much discussion, a decision was made to ask for that number, and so a telegram was sent from the Colonial Hotel on April 30, 1926.

With this telegram, a patched together series of roads across eight states became the most iconic highway in the country. Work began quickly to modernize the route with it finally being entirely paved some 12 years later in 1938.

Along with Route 66, Springfield was fortunate to have two other national highways that crossed at the city. Route 60 was a transcontinental highway that connected the city with the East Coast. Route 65 was a north-south route that made the perfect crossroad for traffic. These highways together with the railroad made Springfield the perfect place to add all types of industry that could move their goods to all parts of the country.

Over its history in the last half of the twentieth century to today, Springfield has seen everything from typewriters to paper cups and televisions manufactured here and shipped by truck all across the country.

Along with this commercial travel, several generations of people have traveled the highway just to visit and experience what life was like in other parts of the country. Unlike today where most of the businesses along the interstate are the same everywhere, travel on Route 66 allowed people to experience the lifestyle of multitudes of different areas and populations. Small mom-and-pop restaurants, stores and motels gave you a chance to sample local flavors and experience unique things. An example of that was Red’s Giant Hamburg, originally located along Chestnut Expressway, where you could pick up your food at a drive-up window many years before they became the norm.

All in all, the highway influenced the city and made it grow at a pace very few cities could match. It also excited a young boy, who would later become a local historian, with all that traffic looking out his front window some 70 years ago.

John Sellars is executive director emeritus for History Museum on the Square Inc. He can be reached at john@historymuseumonthesquare.org.