Route 66 Museum located along -- what else?! -- Route 66 in Clinton, OK Photo: Hedrich Blessing
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Route 66 Museum
This museum celebrates Route 66, the historic
highway known as "America's Main Street." The 2,400 mile, two-lane
road, completed in 1932, passed through eight states and three time
zones en route between Chicago and Los Angeles. Lined with red
Burma Shave signs, gas station outposts, concrete tepees, and
quirky, dusty, little American towns, Route 66 was the road to the
promised land, California.
From the road's very beginning it was clear that
Route 66 was not just another American highway. Immortalized in
song, prose, poetry, dance, and a television show, Route 66 may be
the most famous highway in the world. The road recaptures America's
landscape before cookie-cutter housing developments, franchise
eateries, and shopping malls. Instead, it evokes the time when
roadside diners, motor courts, mom and pop truck stops, neon signs
and classic American automobiles provided a unique driving
culture.
Oklahoma was the heart of Route 66, from Quapaw to
Texola, the highway brought travelers 400 miles across the state.
Travelers can experience more vintage Route 66 in Oklahoma than
anywhere else. The Route 66 Museum, which opened in 1995, was built
in Clinton, a small town of 10,000 people, along the drive. The
award-winning museum building was designed by Oklahoma architect,
Rand Elliott, a sophisticated heartland modernist who renovated,
expanded, and decorated a roadside building to house this paean to
highway culture. The museum serves several objectives: to explore
the cultural impact of the highway with an overview of the
automobile and road building technology; to study Oklahoma's Route
66 history by mixing academics with pop culture; to provide a forum
for educational programs; and to promote the sense of the highway
as a historic entity, which will encourage tourism and preservation
along the roadway.
Route 66 Museum developed out of the Museum of the
Western Trails, which opened in 1968, and was operated by the
Oklahoma Industrial Trust and Recreation Department. In 1991, the
museum was transferred to the Oklahoma Historic Society, which
decided to redevelop the museum to focus on transportation and
Route 66. The Route 66 Museum project was funded with federal,
state, and private funds, with the citizens of Clinton raising more
than $200,00. Oklahoma communities along Route 66 joined in the
museum project by constructing satellite exhibits in their own
towns. Each of their exhibits tells the local story of Route 66 and
directs visitors to the next exhibit. A special Route 66 guidebook,
published by the state department of tourism, promotes Oklahoma
points of interest along Route 66, and highlights the museum. About
25,000 people visit the museum each year.
Documentation includes the project report, photos,
newspaper and magazine articles, the book,
Museum Architecture , two oral histories, an audio tour, and the grand
opening program.
Originally submitted by: Frank D. Lucas, Representative (6th District).
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The Local Legacies project provides a "snapshot" of American Culture as it was expressed in spring of 2000. Consequently, it is not being updated with new or revised information with the exception of "Related Website" links.
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