Route 66

Arcadia was a cotton town before it was a highway stop. Settled soon after the 1889 run in Deep Fork Township, it apparently took its name from the Greek region famed as a rural paradise, and Sarah J. Newkirk became postmaster in August 1890. The Katy line of 1902-03 ran through W. H. Odor's land, and Odor's townsite company platted the town in 1903. Deep Fork Township stayed about half African American for decades, with a separate school by 1910. A June 1924 fire took much of downtown; Tuton's Drugstore survived. Arcadia incorporated only in 1987.

What the plaque says

Route 66 Whether motorists called Route 66 the Ozark Trail, the Will Rogers Highway, Main Street America or the Mother Road, all remember Arcadia's Round Barn. The well-known land- mark was built in 1898 by W.H. Odor. After the route was designated a national highway in 1926, improve- ments were made to the 1917 roadbed. The original road between Edmond and Arcadia was constructed by convict labor. The highway through Arcadia was paved in 1929. Many Arcadia businesses catered to travelers' needs with gasoline stations, cafes, lodging facilities and a grocery and general store. Oklahoma Historical Society 215-1994

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Oklahoma Territorial Museum and Carnegie Library — 16 mi
  The 1902 Carnegie Library in Guthrie where Oklahoma's statehood was proclaimed in 1907, saved from demolition in 1972 by adding a museum of the seventeen territorial years beside it.
• First Americans Museum — 17 mi
  The museum of the 39 First American nations in Oklahoma today, on the Oklahoma River, with galleries shaped by each nation, Smithsonian objects brought home and a 90-foot mound.
• Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum — 17 mi
  The outdoor memorial and museum on the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where 168 people were killed at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, shaped by the families and survivors.

More markers nearby

• Washington Irving's Camp — 0.5 mi
• Run of '89 East Boundary — 4.4 mi
• Central State College — 8.6 mi
• Oklahoma's First Television Station Channel 4 — 12 mi