65. Cyrus Stevens Avery: Father of Route 66

To celebrate the centennial of Route 66 in 2026, the very first episode of the year features the life of the Father of Route 66- Cyrus Stevens Avery.

Join Route 66 Podcast host Anthony Arno as he talks with Susan Croce Kelly, author of Father of Route 66: Cy Avery.  More than establishing Route 66, Avery was a proponent of the Good Roads Movement and advocated for paved roads at the introduction of the automobile in America.

Highlights from the show include:

• Teaming up with Quinta Scott in 1990 to write Route 66: The Highway and Its People
• Searching for Route 66
• Avery's childhood
• Avery travels west in a covered wagon at age 13
• Awareness of road conditions as a young pioneer
• Populariity of bicycles in establishing paved roads

• Avery pulls America out of the mud
• What did Avery get right?
• Replacing named roads with numbered roads
• Road construction and technology
• Need for proper signage with road travel
• Rapid growth of automobiles with Model T introduction
• Railroad perspective regarding paved roads
• Avery reluctantly accepts the number "66" for his road 
• Secretary of Agriculture in charge of road construction
• What did Route 66 get right that the other highways of the day missed out on?
• US Highway 66 Association established to promote the road 
• Proposing a 3400 mile coast to coast footrace along Route 66
• The Bunion Derby puts Route 66 on the world map
• The Great Depression years
• Running for governor of Oklahoma
• Providing clean drinking water to Tulsa
• Avery's biggest achievement (not Route 66)
• Modernizing the Tulsa airport
• Reflection
  • Importance of trip west for Avery in a covered wagon
  • Replacing Route 66 with the Interstate Highway 
  • 1969 Highway Beautification Act removes local billboards
  • Route 66 as a tourist attraction today

• Centennial Plaza in Tulsa honors Avery
• Newspaper Women of the Ozarks book