A City in Motion: Modern Modes

In 1926 the road through downtown Winslow became part of U.S. Route 66, and the town reorganized itself around the automobile. The Mother Road was built to tie small places to big ones, and cheap cars meant ordinary families could finally travel for pleasure. They filled Winslow's new motor courts, filling stations, diners, and curio shops, and once wartime rationing ended the traffic only swelled. For a few decades Second Street formed a segment of the most romanticized highway in America, until Interstate 40 pulled the through-traffic away and left the town with the memory.

What the plaque says

Journeys to Winslow. US Route 66: The Mother Road. In 1926, the section of the transcontinental National Old Trails Highway that passed through downtown Winslow on Second Street became part of US Route 66, which ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. The highway was designed to link small towns to bigger cities and enhance their economies in the process. Affordable automobiles meant that travel was no longer just for the wealthy, and tourists stayed at the new motor courts and campgrounds. They joined local residents by patronizing the new service stations, diners, curio shops, and roadside attractions.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Winslow — steps away
  The town an Eagles lyric made famous — and the home of La Posada, the last great railroad hotel and Mary Colter's finest work, at the southern doorway to Hopi and Navajo country.

More markers nearby

• The First Peoples of the Southwestern Colorado Plateau — steps away
• Standin' on the Corner Park — steps away
• La Posada Hotel — steps away
• Toth Whispering Giant — 0.3 mi