With the commissioning of federal U.S. Route 66 in November 1926, Tulsa's Cyrus Avery helped create a new experience for early twentieth-century America. As part of a developing system of interstate and transcontinental highways, U.S. 66 helped set the American public in motion for the rest of the century and beyond. At the first meeting of the U.S. Highway Association the following February, Avery's proposal and motion made U.S. Route 66 the Main Street of America. Early vacationers and families traveled east and west, and many stopped here at Crystal City Amusement Park for picnics, rides on the Zingo rollercoaster, and dancing at the Casa Loma Ballroom. During the Great Depression, the road became a path of desperation and hope for Dust Bowl migrants seeking new opportunity. During the Great War, it served as a route for military equipment and personnel. It later welcomed home members of the Greatest Generation and carried their young families toward new beginnings. Route 66 also became a fixture of mid-century American popular culture through a hit song and a television adventure series still seen around the world. Since then, it has carried manufactured goods, supported trucking guided by the internet, and accommodated fiber-optic lines conducting data and financial transactions alongside other pathways of the Information Age.
