Transportation routes have shaped the settlement of Kansas, and at Riverton two paths from different eras now cross as Historic Byways: the Old Military Road along Kansas' eastern border and the Kansas segment of Route 66, which passes through fewer than 14 miles of the state's southeast corner. The Old Military Road, followed today by the Frontier Military Historic Byway, ran along the "Permanent Indian Frontier" that later became the border between slave Missouri and free Kansas, linking frontier forts amid westward migration, conflict with Native Americans, settlement, slavery and freedom, and the violence of Bleeding Kansas before the turmoil widened into the Civil War. As the nation emerged from war, cross-continental connections were pursued first by railroad and later by automobile, and in the early 20th century mass-produced cars drove demand for highways that often followed older roads. In 1926, part of the Old Military Road became a fitting link in Route 66 through Kansas. Like earlier westbound settlers, Route 66 carried farming families bound for California during the Dust Bowl, military units during World War II, and later travelers drawn to the "Main Street of America." Although Route 66 declined with the rise of the Interstate Highway System in the late 1950s, the intersection at Riverton reflects the overlapping history of these two roads and the communities that grew around them.
