Designs for signs that were advertising businesses along historic Route 66 have been found and preserved. Some of the route's history can be seen in a tiny corridor in Kansas.
Route 66 was one of the first highways in the U.S. It ran from east to west – Chicago to Santa Monica.
From 1926 until Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act in 1956, the highway was a migratory path, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and much later as a touristy road to American sites for vacationers.
Along the road grew gas stations and restaurants and a motel that became popular.
Route 66 only passes through Kansas for 12 miles, but the corridor has Baxter Springs' Phillip 66 gas station – with its cottage style building and steeply sloping red roof -- the Brush Creek Marsh Arch Bridge, William's Store in Riverton and the Galena Viaduct.
Many of the design sketches for the highway's mostly neon signs will be preserved in Albuquerque.
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Aileen LeBlanc is news director at KMUW. Follow her on Twitter @Aileen_LeBlanc.
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