They called it America's Main Street because that's exactly what it was.
From California to Illinois, Route 66 was the thread that stitched the country together — 2,400 miles of diners, filling stations, motor courts, and small towns that only existed because the highway ran through them. Established in 1926, it was the first road to connect the coasts in a straight line, and it pulled with it the ambitions of a generation ready to move. The name stuck because no other road earned it. Not before. Not since.
This is the road that made America feel like one place.
