302 South Main
Carthage, Missouri
Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m.– 4:30 p.m.
Closed on all State and Federal Holidays
Crossing three time zones and eight states, Route 66 linked
communities together from Chicago to the Southern California coast.
In Missouri, the fabled highway crossed ten counties spanning over
300 miles. This thoroughfare came through the downtown districts of
Carthage, Carterville, Webb City and Joplin, all located in Jasper
County, before carrying travelers into Southeast Kansas.
Thanks to the efforts of Cyrus Avery, a leader of the American
Association of Highway Development, and John Woodruff of
Springfield, Missouri, Route 66 became a reality in 1926 in
Springfield, Missouri. The famed highway exposed traveling tourists
to the Midwest and Southwest United States. Businessmen, desperados
and vacationers used the diagonal path to cross the United States.
Approximately 2,400 miles of road went through the center of urban
and rural communities leading to the poetic epithet “The Main Street
of America”.
Some
of Route 66’s original path can be traced hundreds of years ago when
the native Americans traveled by horse and foot searching for wild
game. Prior to the Civil War (1861-1865) white settlers referred to
the trail as the St. Louis to Springfield Road. During the Civil War
a telegraph line ran parallel to the trail. This communication
network became known as the Wire Road.
Route 66 was considered to be the ultimate road trip. Motorists
encountered the likes of treacherous curves, costly speed traps,
trading posts and full service filling stations. ‘Mom and Pop’ motor
camps and roadside businesses selling regional flair opened to
accommodate the travelers.
The road even seeped into our country’s pop culture in written
publications, musical songs and even a prime-time evening
television
show. Song writer Bobby Troup selected the city of Joplin to be
among the communities touted in his classic hit “Get Your Kicks On
Route 66”. The song, recorded by Nat King Cole in 1946, became one
of the most requested by music fans throughout the country for years
to come. Novelist John Steinbeck in his 1936 classic “The Grapes of
Wrath” coined the phrase “Mother Road”. An estimated 210,000 people
escaped the despair of the Dust Bowl, migrating to California with
dreams of beginning a new prosperous life.
By the 1960s most of Route 66 was too narrow to handle modern trucks
and automobiles. Motorists simply opted for faster, newer, four-lane
roads that bypassed the multi-stop lighted and gridlocked congested
downtowns. The passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 signed
by President Eisenhower, signaled the beginning of the end of Route
66. The comprehensive funding for a national interstate and defense
highway system bypassed many of the towns that depended on tourism
brought to them by those traveling along “The Main Street of
America”. Many of these communities suffered economically from the
loss of the direct traffic.
Amazingly, it took five interstates to replace Route 66. In October 1984, the final section of the original road was bypassed by Interstate 40 at Williams, Arizona. In Missouri, Interstate I-44 covers and parallels parts of the original road from St. Louis to Joplin.
For additional Jasper County and Missouri Route 66 information:
Carthage Convention & Visitor’s Bureau
visit-carthage.com
1-866-357-8687
Joplin Convention & Visitor’s Bureau
visitjoplinmo.com
1-800-657-2534
Joplin Museum Complex
joplinmuseum.org 417-623-1180
Powers Museum
powersmuseum.com 417-237-0456
Webb City Route 66 Information Center
webbcitymo.org 417-673-1154
Jasper County
Courthouse Route 66 Museum
302 S Main ST
Carthage, MO 64836
Route 66 Museum funded by Missouri Department of Transportation.
Page content provided courtesy of Jasper County Courthouse
Preservation & Beautification Advisory Committee
& produced in participation with the Joplin Museum Complex and the
Carthage Convention & Visitor’s Bureau