The Good Roads Movement
Before Route 66 could exist, Americans had to want roads.
🚴Book Your TourThe History
In the 1880s, America's roads were terrible. Outside of cities, most were unpaved, unmarked, and often impassable in bad weather. The people who first demanded change were not car owners. They were bicyclists.
The League of American Wheelmen, founded in 1880, became one of the first organized advocacy groups for road improvement. By 1912, the Daughters of the American Revolution helped create the National Old Trails Road, the direct precursor to Route 66.
Historical Figures at This Stop
The Route 66 Story
Most people think of Route 66 as a product of the automobile age. But the road's origins go back to bicycles and horse-drawn carriages. How a group of cyclists and the DAR laid the groundwork for the Mother Road is one of the tour's most surprising stories.
The rest of this story? You will hear it on the tour.
This Is Stop 07 of 16
on the Route 66 Walking Tour of Flagstaff.