Images of America

St. Louis: 1933-1955 Southern or Historic Route - St. Louis: 1936-1955 Mainline and 1955-1965 Bypass Routes - St. Louis: 1926-1933 Original Route - St. Louis: City 66 Routes - Gateway to the Ozarks: Franklin and Crawford Counties - Hills and Streams: Phelps and Pulaski Counties - The Heart of Missouri: Laclede and Webster Counties - Birthplace of 66: Greene and Lawrence Counties - On to Kansas: Jasper County

Route 66 is the "Main Street of America," heralded in song and popular culture. It took a maze of different routes through St. Louis before slashing diagonally across the "Show-Me State" through the beauty of the Ozarks. In between, there are classic motels, diners, tourist traps, and gas stations bathed in flashing and whirling neon lights. Natural wonders include crystal-clear streams, majestic bluffs, and wondrous caverns. Roadside marketers concocted legends about Jesse James, painted advertisements on barns, lived with deadly snakes, or offered curios such as pottery and handwoven baskets. That spirit is alive today at the Wagon Wheel and the Munger-Moss, the Mule, Meramec Caverns, and Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, just to name a few. Their stories are included here