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By E. Jason Wambsgans and Jonathan BullingtonChicago Tribune
It was created to connect us, a 2,448-mile gateway to vast lands that previously existed only in the collective imagination. Each mile promised freedom and escape, opportunity and adventure.
Route 66, “The Main Street of America.”
There is perhaps no better-known highway anywhere in the world. In its 100-year history, it has offered safe passage to Dust Bowl refugees, World War II transports and vacationing families. John Steinbeck called it “the mother road, the road of flight.” Nat King Cole crooned about its kicks in a 1946 hit song. Disney and Pixar took inspiration from it for a 2006 blockbuster.
Despite being decommissioned in 1985 in favor of a faster and wider interstate highway system, Route 66 continues to capture our imaginations in the remnants of its past glory that remain today.
As the iconic road celebrates its centennial this year, the Chicago Tribune set out across Route 66 to find the stories it holds, introducing readers to the people and places it was designed to connect: the colorful characters and roadside oddities, the business owners trying to revitalize their pieces of history and the ever-changing vistas that continue to define this famed highway.
Route 66, also known as Ogden Avenue, travels through Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS
Karen Holmes joins a crowd of about 40 people for a “No Kings Day” protest along Route 66 in Elk City, Oklahoma, on June 14, 2025. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS
A vintage Buick sits at the historic Blue Swallow Motel on Route 66 in Tucumcari, New Mexico on June 11, 2025. It opened in 1940. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS
Bagdad Cemetery with 17 graves in the California ghost town on Route 66 in the Mojave Desert, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS
Route 66 in California on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS
Visitors pose for pictures at the Santa Monica Pier, where Route 66 ends, on June 1, 2025, in Santa Monica, California. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS
Roy's Motel and Café is a motel, cafe and gas station, currently being restored in the ghost town of Amboy, California, on Route 66, on June 3, 2025. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS
Copyright 2026 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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