Route 66, created in 1926 as one of the first numbered U.S. highways, ran 2,500 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles and became an American symbol of romance, freedom, migration, and travel, carrying Dust Bowl refugees in the 1930s and families bound for the Southwest and California in the 1950s and 1960s. In Illinois it began in downtown Chicago, passed through busy suburbs such as Berwyn, and continued into rural prairie farmland and Midwestern towns before reaching the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, which carried traffic across the Mississippi River from 1936 to 1955. Along the way, service stations, diners, cafes, and roadside attractions served travelers, and many historic stops in the Berwyn region reflected the road's automobile culture, foodways, and commercial life. In Berwyn, already a booming Chicago suburb when Route 66 was established, Ogden Avenue functioned both as the town's business strip and as a major highway, running through a diverse neighborhood of notable Chicago-style bungalows built rapidly during the 1920s. Although U.S. Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985 after losing out to faster freeways, nostalgia, preservation, and local traditions such as Berwyn's annual September car show continue to keep its legacy alive.