The iconic Route 66 stretches not just across the country, but throughout our history as well, highlighting the rise (and fall, and reinvention) of small towns, big cities, performers, thinkers, artists, politicians, and everything in between. High rise hotels, tiny mom-and-pop motels, diners, dives, and architecture of every kind have characterized the highway’s 2,451 miles, as well as the communities that called them home.
Join author Jim Hinckley and his book, The Route 66 Encyclopedia, on a visit to the once-boomtown (and curiously named) Miami, Oklahoma.
According to George H. Shirk, author of Oklahoma Place Names, selection of the name for the community of Miami was in honor of Thomas Richardville, a Miami chief instrumental in the legislative process that resulted in acquisition of the town site. However, other sources claim Wayland C. Lykins, son of a missionary to the Peoria Indians and local rancher, selected the name as part of the application for a town site filed in Washington D.C. Though there may be conflict about the origin of the name, the accepted date of origination is March 2, 1891, and the filing of the town charter, the first in Indian Territory. A post office established on April 13, 1891, soon followed. Before statehood, Miami served as record town for Recording District 1, Indian Territory.
The discovery of extensive deposits of lead and zinc in 1905 transformed the community from a small rural town into a mining boomtown. Indicative of the town’s prosperity and prominence were the opening of the Northeastern School of Mines, later the Northeastern Oklahoma Junior College, in 1919, and the Spanish Mission Revival–style Coleman Theater in 1929, established by George L. Coleman Sr. The latter, recently renovated, remains one of the city’s crown jewels. From its inception, it has been heralded as one of the most beautiful theaters in Oklahoma.
The development of tourism-related services sheds light on the role Route 66 played in the economy of Miami. The Hotel, Garage, Service Station, and AAA Club Directory for 1927 lists only the Miami Hotel for approved lodging, while the 1954 edition of the AAA Western Accommodations Directory lists the Hotel Miami, Cherokee Motel, Frontier Motel, and Sooner State Motor Kourt.
The city has an extensive association with celebrities and artists, including Charles Banks Williams, the artist who painted the dome pictures in the Oklahoma State Capitol Building; Mickey Mantle; Jim Thorpe; and Steve Owens, the 1969 Heisman Trophy winner. Miami also has several important associations with Route 66. Until 1997, a steel truss bridge built in 1937 spanned the Neosho River south of town. Completion of this bridge served as the final link in the complete paving of that highway in the state of Oklahoma.
The original alignment of Route 66, a segment of which remains to the south of Miami, predates certification of the highway by four years and represents a rare and unusual moment in highway engineering evolution. Paved from its inception in 1922, this portion of roadway that connected Miami with Afton is only nine feet wide, including its original concrete edging. Amazingly, this roadway served as Route 66 until completion of the Neosho River Bridge. In the fall of 2011, the state of Oklahoma dedicated an historic monument at the south end segment of this highway.
A landmark on Route 66, with its unique neon signage that dates to 1965, is Waylan’s Ku-Ku, a restaurant that specializes in simple American fare, such as hamburgers. Enhancing the time capsule feel are cruise nights held on the fourth Saturday of the month from April to October. This restaurant garnered a recommendation in the Route 66 Dining & Lodging Guide, fifteenth edition, published by the National Historic Route 66 Federation in 2011.
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Get your kicks and everything else pertaining to the Main Street of America, from this all-encompassing reference book on Route 66.
A reference book with a twist, The Route 66 Encyclopedia presents alphabetical entries on Route 66 history, landmarks, personalities, and culture, from Bobby Troup’s anthem “Route 66” to Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath to the Wigwam Motel. It’s illustrated with more than 1,000 old and new, color and black and white photographs and pieces of memorabilia.
You’ll learn about Jack Rittenhouse and Will Rogers, as well as the contributions of lesser-known figures like Arthur Nelson and Angel Delgadillo. With references to the old (including the history of the U Drop Inn Cafe in Texas) and new (including a section about the recent Cars movie), The Route 66 Encyclopedia provides a sweeping look at a highway that has become more than just a road.
These pages cover the history of Route 66 and the people who played a role in its transformation from highway to icon between 1926 and the present, but like the highway itself, this work does not fit within the traditional confines of generalities or terminology. Yes, this is an encyclopedia, a reference book for all things Route 66. However, it is also a time capsule, a travel guide, a history book, a memorial, a testimonial, and a chronicle of nearly a century of social change and evolution.
Since his childhood, Jim Hinckley dreamed of being an author. After numerous detours into truck driving, mining, ranching, and a variety of other endeavors, he turned to writing a weekly column on automotive history for his local newspaper, the Kingman Daily Miner, in his adopted hometown of Kingman, Arizona.
From that initial endeavor more than twenty years ago, Hinckley has written extensively on his two primary passions: automotive history and travel. He is a regular contributor to Route 66, American Road, Hemmings Classic Car, and Old Cars Weekly, and he was an associate editor at Cars & Parts. Book reviews and original features on automotive history and travel can be found on his blog, www.route66chronicles.blogspot.com and on his popular podcast, Jim Hinckley’s America & Route 66 Adventures.
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