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Cyrus Avery
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Cyrus Stevens Avery (1871–1963) was known as the "Father of Route 66". He created the route while a member of the federal board appointed to create the Federal Highway System, then pushed for the establishment of the U.S. Highway 66 Association to pave and promote the highway.
He was born in Pennsylvania and his family moved to Oklahoma (then Indian Territory) when he was 14. He graduated from William Jewell College, married, then moved to Oklahoma City to be an insurance agent.
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Encyclopedia
Cyrus Stevens Avery (1871–1963) was known as the "Father of Route 66". He created the route while a member of the federal board appointed to create the Federal Highway System, then pushed for the establishment of the U.S. Highway 66 Association to pave and promote the highway.
He was born in Pennsylvania and his family moved to Oklahoma (then Indian Territory) when he was 14. He graduated from William Jewell College, married, then moved to Oklahoma City to be an insurance agent. In 1904, he moved again to Vinita, Oklahoma, where he invested in the oil industry. In 1907, he moved again to Tulsa. He became impressed with the Good Roads Movement going on in Missouri and got himself elected as chairman of the Tulsa County Commission and began pushing for a state-wide improvement of roads. He eventually became involved in the creation of the Ozarks Trails, a system of roads connecting St. Louis and Amarillo, Texas. After working with creating more roads, he was elected president of the Associated Highway Associations of America and in 1923 was appointed to the State Highway Commission in Oklahoma. He eventually became associated with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
He became instrumental in pushing for a federal level of good roads. In 1925, a board was appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to designate the new federal highways and mark them. Avery was appointed to this board.
Avery and the creation of a national highway system
One of the routes requested by Congress was a road running from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Los Angeles, California. This road would follow what is now U.S. Highway 60 from Virginia Beach to Springfield, Missouri, continue west to Joplin, across southern Kansas, Colorado, Utah, turning south to Las Vegas, Nevada, then further south and west to Los Angeles. Avery successfully argued that to avoid the high peaks of the Rocky Mountains, the road should turn south through Tulsa and Oklahoma City, continue west across the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California. His suggestion that this highway should go east from Springfield to St. Louis and Chicago, Illinois, as commerce naturally continued in that direction was also adopted.
After the highways were routed, the group decided not to name the highways (as had been done by many non-profit groups which were currently connecting various state routes into longer multi-state and trans-continental routes), but instead to follow the pattern of numbering the highways, as established in Wisconsin and Missouri. The current east-west routes would be even numbers, and the north-south would be odd. Major routes would be one- or two-digit numbers ending in either "1" or "0" depending on the route. To avoid a "U.S. 0", U.S. Highway 2 was treated as a "0" highway and U.S. Route 101 would be treated as a two-digit highway to expand the number of available routes north-south. Avery, arguing that the Chicago to Los Angeles route would be a major highway, numbered the highway US 60. This received support from Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri. It was outright attacked by a delegation from Kentucky.
U.S. 60 vs. U.S. 62
The Virginia Beach–Springfield route had been designated as U.S. 62 and actually terminated south of Ozark, Missouri at U.S. Highway 65. Kentucky would be the only state without a "0" highway. They countered Avery's US route by pushing for US 60 to run between Virginia Beach and Los Angeles; the Springfield to Chicago section could be "U.S. 99999999 North". Avery returned with "U.S. 60 South" for the Springfield–Virginia Beach alignment. Kentucky threated to walk completely out of the new highway system (individual states could not be forced to participate in it). Finally, Kentucky offered a compromise: connect their highway with Avery's in Springfield and give their highway the number 60. Avery could have his Chicago–Los Angeles highway if he would accept the number 62 which was originally assigned to their road. Avery disliked the number 62, found out 66 was not used, and designated the Chicago–Los Angeles highway as U.S. 66. In 1926, the Federal Highway System was approved by Congress. With this done, Congress also de-certified all the old "association" highways.
Avery and the U.S. 66 Association
In 1927, Avery pushed for the creation of the U.S. Highway 66 Association to promote paving U.S. 66 and promote travel on the highway. He got a business connection in Springfield (MO) appointed as president. In the 1930s, Avery would attempt to have himself elected president of the organization, but he never succeeded.
Later
In 1997, the National Historic Route 66 Federation established a Cyrus Avery Award, which has been presented variously to individuals for outstanding creativity in depicting Route 66 , and to organizations for noteworthy preservation projects .
In 2004, the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma renamed the (which carried US 66 over the Arkansas River), the Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge in his honor.
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