Missouri is where Route 66 found its footing — and where America learned to move.
St. Louis was the Gateway to the West long before Route 66 made that concept literal. When the highway was designated in 1926, Missouri became the first chapter of a story that would stretch to the Pacific: the Ozarks, the diners, the two-lane roads that curved through country too beautiful to rush through. The people who started their journey here knew what they were leaving behind — and trusted the road to show them what was ahead. That particular kind of courage never goes out of style.
The Gateway opens both ways. The road remembers everyone who passed through.
