Named for the ore it produced, Galena's lead mining industry began in 1873 and continued until 1973, becoming the largest industry in the city's history. Mining and smelting operations required 3 railroads, 65 crushers, 2 smelters, and 3 sludge mills to handle ore from as many as 250 mines. The city grew with more than 160 service and professional businesses, and its population reached 30,000, making it the largest community in Cherokee County. In 1926, U.S. 66 was established along Galena's Main Street, later dedicated as U.S. 66 Will Rogers Highway on Dec. 9, 1935. Kansas contains 13.2 miles of Route 66, and from this point there are 1794 miles west and 606 miles east of America's U.S. Historic Will Rogers Memorial Highway U.S. 66. The Will Rogers Highway was dedicated in 1952 to Will Rogers, remembered as a humorist, world traveler, and good neighbor, and this Main Street of America, Highway 66, was the first road he traveled in a career that led him straight to the hearts of his countrymen.
