3 5 23 route 66 (social studies)

Illinois Route 66 Heritage Project.. The highway was Route 66.. It seemed like everyone was having conversations about Route 66.. NEW MEXICO OKLAHOMA KANSAS ARKANSAS MONTANA LOUSIANA COL

by Dan Greenberg

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Scott MacNeill

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover © Richard Cummins/Corbis 1 Martyn Goddard/Alamy 2 (tl) © Michael Ochs Archives/ Corbis (br) © Myopia/Corbis 4 © April 2003 Illinois Route 66 Heritage Project Photo by Patty Kuhn 5 Franck Fotos/ Alamy 6 © Tom Brakefi eld/CORBIS 7 Danita Delimont/Alamy 8 © Richard Cummins/Corbis 9 © Robert Estall/CORBIS

10 Martyn Goddard/Alamy.

Copyright © by Houghton Miffl in Company All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law With the exception of nonprofi t transcription into Braille, Houghton Miffl in is not authorized to grant permission for further uses of this work Permission must be obtained from the individual copyright owner as identifi ed herein Address requests for permission to make copies

of Houghton Miffl in material to School Permissions, Houghton Miffl in Company, 222 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116 Printed in China

ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02185-0

ISBN-10: 0-547-02185-2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 RRD 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08

Who is your favorite singer? Can you name your favorite football player? Well, long ago, one highway was as famous

as a music or sports star! The highway was Route 66 Everyone knew that road Thousands drove on it Singers sang

about it It seemed like everyone was having conversations about Route 66 But what made this highway so cool?

Nat King Cole made the song “Route 66” a hit.

NEW MEXICO

OKLAHOMA

KANSAS

ARKANSAS MONTANA

LOUSIANA

COLORADO UTAH

CALIFORNIA

ILLINOIS MISSOURI NEBRASKA

Chicago

MISSISSIPPI

66

Starting Over

Life was hard in the 1930s Many

people lost their jobs Some lost their

homes and farms

Many wanted to move to California Life seemed better there But how

would they get there? California was far away The idea of driving there filled

people with terror

How could they get gas and food?

Where would they sleep?

The map shows Route 66 It passed through

eight states and was about 2,450 miles long.

NEW MEXICO

OKLAHOMA

KANSAS

ARKANSAS

IOWA MONTANA

LOUSIANA

COLORADO UTAH

CALIFORNIA

ILLINOIS NEBRASKA

Mount Olive

ALABAMA MISSISSIPPI

66

Route 66 changed everything

Suddenly, the long trip didn’t seem so hard Driving down the smooth road was a pleasure There were plenty of gas stations If you got hungry, there were diners and cafes If you got tired, there were places to sleep The road inspired people to drive

Many people stopped

at the Mt Olive,

Illinois, gas station.

NEW MEXICO

OKLAHOMA ARKANSAS

IOWA MONTANA

LOUSIANA

COLORADO UTAH

CALIFORNIA

ILLINOIS NEBRASKA

Tulsa

ALABAMA MISSISSIPPI

ROUTE

66

In the 1930s, more than 200,000

people loaded their cars and drove to

California on Route 66 In the 1940s,

even more managed to make the trip

Soon there were songs and movies about this famous road Everyone knew about Route 66!

This statue greeted people in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

ARIZONA NEW

MEXICO

OKLAHOMA ARKANSAS

IOWA MONTANA

LOUSIANA

COLORADO UTAH

CALIFORNIA

ILLINOIS NEBRASKA

KANSAS MISSOURI

MISSISSIPPI

ROUTE

66

In its day, Route 66 was America’s

“super” highway Compared to the roads we currently have, Route 66 was small and scruffy In some spots, Route

66 was like a two-lane country road But to travelers in the 1930s and 1940s, Route 66 was the loveliest highway

in America Today, Route 66 is still

very popular

At Amarillo’s Big Texan Steak

Ranch on Route 66, big eaters

ordered the 4½-pound steak

NEW MEXICO

OKLAHOMA

KANSAS

ARKANSAS

IOWA MONTANA

LOUSIANA

COLORADO UTAH

CALIFORNIA

ILLINOIS NEBRASKA

Joseph City

ALABAMA MISSISSIPPI

MISSOURI

66

By the 1950s, you could get

everything on Route 66, 24 hours a day Ice cream? Cowboy hats? Advice on how

to fix your car? Route 66 had it all

Fast food was invented on Route 66

In 1948, two brothers opened a little

hamburger shop in San Bernadino,

California Perhaps you’ve heard of it

It was called McDonalds™

One of the highway’s

most famous sites was the

Jackrabbit Trading Post in

Joseph City, Arizona.

Storeowners made a big effort to catch people’s eye with flashy signs and buildings Did you want to visit

a reptile farm? Or maybe a mysterious hideout for bandits to hold their

reunions? A motel shaped like a tepee? You could do all of that and more on Route 66

Cadillac Ranch, near Amarillo, Texas, has cars buried in the ground.

The Beginning of the End

In 1956 a new highway law was

passed Highways were to be four

lanes So people started building

four-lane highways Drivers loved these new highways They used the old, smaller

highways, like Route 66, much less In

1985, Route 66 was put out of service

It disappeared from road maps People forgot about Route 66

Freeways made long-distance driving faster

but not more fun Freeways went around

local towns and businesses.

Then a funny thing happened

People missed the famous road They started clubs and groups to drive on the old road They started websites that told about it They wrote books and magazine articles

Now “Historic Route 66” is back on maps Maybe you’ll visit it someday!

Route 66 is still a

popular highway.

TARGET VOCABULARY Word Builder

Make a chart about advice on places to

visit Tell where to visit and why it’s a good

place to see Copy the chart and add more

words.

Where to Visit Why It’s a

Good Place Cape Cod See the ocean.

Text to Self Write about places you have

visited Give advice on what to do and see

there Use words from the chart in your

writing.

Write About It

TARGET STRATEGY Analyze/Evaluate Think about what you read Then form an opinion about it

I drove and drove till I was tired!

advice

conversations

currently

inspired

loaded

loveliest managed pleasure reunion terror

TARGET VOCABULARY

ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02185-0 ISBN-10: 0-547-02185-2

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Online Leveled Books

Level: O

DRA: 38

Social Studies

Strategy:

Analyze/Evaluate

Word Count: 696

3.5.23 Build Vocabulary