The historic Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge was the point where east met west on the Mother Road, where the landscape began to change and the road seemed to stretch out toward its long journey to California. The bridge also served as an early connection between thriving downtown Tulsa east of the Arkansas River and the vast wealth of the oil fields in west Tulsa. As Tulsa emerged as the Oil Capital of the world, it was also creating its cultural identity through the arts and architecture. A sculpture there reinforces the idea that Route 66 in general and the bridge in particular was where east met west, old met new, and the past met the future, portraying a fictitious but probable encounter in which Cyrus Avery, his wife Essie, and their daughter Helen, riding in a vintage Model "T," left downtown Tulsa and met a horse-drawn wagon coming from the west Tulsa oil fields, with the horses rearing in fright and both drivers struggling to navigate the bridge.

Photo: Jason Voigt

Photo: Jason Voigt

Photo: Jason Voigt

Photo: ExploreHere

Photo: ExploreHere

Tulsa, Oklahoma · USA