Plymouth Special Deluxe on Route 66
by Catherine Sherman
Title
Plymouth Special Deluxe on Route 66
Artist
Catherine Sherman
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
"1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe Four Door Car on Route 66, Tucumcari, New Mexico" by Catherine Sherman
A 1949 mint green Plymouth Special Deluxe Four-Door car is parked across the street from the iconic Blue Swallow Motel on Route 66 in Tucumcari, New Mexico, in this photograph from April 2014. Vintage automobiles are parked around Tucumcari, where you will also see colorful wall murals and quaint motels and restaurants harking from its days as a main stop on Route 66.
The Blue Swallow Motel has been serving travelers along the Route 66, the Mother Road, since 1939.
The motel is a 12-unit L-shaped motel listed on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico as a part of historic U.S. Route 66. Original architectural features included a façade with pink stucco walls decorated with shell designs and a stepped parapet, on-site office and manager's residence and garages located between the sleeping units for travelers to park their cars.
According to Wikipedia, Tucumcari has been a popular stop for cross-country travelers on Interstate 40 (formerly U.S. Route 66 in the area). It is the largest city on the highway between Amarillo, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Billboards reading "TUCUMCARI TONITE!" placed along I-40 for many miles to the east and west of the town invite motorists to stay the night in one of Tucumcari's "2000" (later changed to "1200") motel rooms. The "TUCUMCARI TONITE!" campaign was abandoned in favor of a campaign which declared Tucumcari, "Gateway to the West". However, on June 24, 2008, Tucumcari's Lodgers Tax Advisory Board, the group responsible for the billboards, voted to return to the previous slogan.
U.S. Route 66 (US 66 or Route 66), also known as the Will Rogers Highway and as the Main Street of America or the Mother Road, was one of the original highways within the U.S. Highway System. Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year.
The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in America, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before ending at Santa Monica, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km). It was recognized in popular culture by both the hit song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" and the Route 66 television show in the 1960s.
Route 66 was the main road for those who migrated west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. People doing business along the route became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway, and those same people later fought to keep the highway alive in the face of the growing threat of being bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System. Route 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime, and it was officially removed from the United States Highway System on June 27, 1985, after it had been completely replaced by the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona have been designated a National Scenic Byway of the name "Historic Route 66", which is returning to some maps.
Featured in "Transportation" group (01/27/2024)
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January 26th, 2024
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