Eastern Terminus of Route 66

Route 66 was created in 1926 to link Chicago with Los Angeles, and unlike the Interstate highways whose exits are numbered from west to east or from south to north, U.S. Highways don't have a beginning or an end, or do they?

Chicago is considered as Route 66's "Starting Point": From here people headed west to seek new lives, jobs or vacations. The destination lay in the west... Santa Monica was the The Western Terminus of Route 66 or "End of the Trail" for Route 66. So Chicago was where it began.

The eastern terminus was moved from the Cicero-Chicago city limits to Grant Park in Chicago, in 1927, however, according to Russell A. Olsen in "The Complete Route 66 Lost & Found," the eastern terminus moved from Cicero into downtown Chicago in 1931.

Route 66 started and ended at the same spot, on Jackson and Michigan Ave from 1927 or 31 until the mid 1950s. Then, Jackson became a one way street, heading (eastwards) and Adams St. carried the westbound traffic. Route 66 and U.S. Hwy 34 were both extended beyond Michigan Ave. to link with US 41 (which ran along Lake Shore Blvd.) the two highways followed Jackson Ave, a two way street east of Michigan Ave to meet U.S. 41 at the Outer Drive.

The following photograph taken in Grant Park, on Jackson Blvd. looking east towards Lake Shore Blvd, from the 1950s is more than eloquent with its white sign with black letters: "END OF ROUTE 34-66." This is the view at that Same Spot nowadays.

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