Route 66, established in 1926 as one of the first numbered U.S. highways, ran 2,500 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles and became an American icon associated with freedom, migration, tourism, roadside attractions, service stations, diners, and travel across Midwestern farmland and towns to the Southwest and California. In Illinois, the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge was the scenic endpoint of Route 66 and carried traffic across the Mississippi River from 1936 to 1955, while the bridge itself, built in 1929 as a private toll bridge and later turned over to the city of Madison, Illinois, served as a Route 66 crossing for 30 years, the longest of any bridge, and from 1936 to 1965 as motorists crossed its distinctive 22-degree bend above rapids formed by underwater rock ledges known as the chain of rocks. The crossing stood in the St. Louis area near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, where people had long been drawn by abundant resources, and it was one of five different Mississippi River crossings used by Route 66 over its 50-year history as traffic demands shifted the highway to larger bridges. The old bridge closed to traffic after the New Chain of Rocks Bridge was built immediately to the north in 1967, and Route 66 itself was decommissioned in 1985, but the bridge remains open for walking and biking, preserving a memorable river passage once lined with elm trees, restaurants, motels, and access to the Chain of Rocks Amusement Park.
