Cyrus Avery

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Cyrus Stevens Avery
American
Alma materWilliam Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri
Occupation(s)Businessperson, oilman, highway commissioner
Known forU.S. Route 66 and the U.S. Highway 66 Association
SpouseEssie McClelland
Children3
Signature

Cyrus Stevens Avery (1871–1963) was a businessperson, oilman, and highway commissioner. He created the

Federal Highway System, then pushed for the establishment of the U.S. Highway 66 Association
to pave and promote the highway. As such, he is known as the "Father of Route 66".

Early life and move to Oklahoma

He was born in

oil industry, establishing the Avery Oil & Gas Company.[2] In 1907, he moved again to Tulsa. He bought a farm near Tulsa in 1908, where he raised Holstein and Ayshire cattle, Druoc hogs, Shopshire sheep, and Percheron horses. In the following year, he established a 1,400 acres (570 ha) farm northeast of Tulsa for diversified agriculture.[1] Cyrus had three children with Essie: sons Gordon Avery and Leighton Avery, and daughter Helen Avery Berghell.[5]

Avery and the creation of a national highway system

Shortly after WWI, Avery opened a proto-motel outside Tulsa. Avery soon realized that an interstate system of highways would help his adopted city and state prosper.[6]: 7 

Good Roads Movement

Impressed with Missouri's

St. Louis and Amarillo, Texas. After working with creating more roads, he was elected president of the Associated Highway Associations of America. In 1923, he was appointed to the Oklahoma State Highway Commission, where he implemented a gasoline tax to fund the highway department.[2]

He became instrumental in pushing for a federal level of good roads. In 1925, the United States Secretary of Agriculture appointed him to the Joint Board of Interstate Highways, which was to designate the new federal highways and mark them.[2]

One of the routes requested by

Chicago, Illinois
, as commerce naturally continued in that direction, was also adopted.

After the highways were routed, the group decided not to name the highways (as had been done by many non-profit groups which were currently connecting various state routes into longer multi-state and transcontinental routes), but instead to follow the pattern of numbering the highways, as established in Wisconsin and Missouri.[citation needed] The current east-west routes would be even numbers, and the north-south would be odd. Major routes would be one- or two-digit numbers ending in either "1" or "0" depending on the route.[6]: 8  To avoid a "U.S. 0", U.S. Highway 2 was treated as a "0" highway and U.S. Route 101 would be treated as a two-digit highway to expand the number of available routes north-south. Avery, arguing that the Chicago to Los Angeles route would be a major highway, numbered the highway US 60, began production of roadside signs. However, political trouble was brewing.[6]: 8 

U.S. 60 vs. U.S. 62

The Virginia Beach–Springfield route had been designated as U.S. 62 and actually terminated south of

U.S. Highway 65
. Kentucky would be the only state without a "0" highway. They countered Avery's US route by pushing for US 60 to run between Virginia Beach and Los Angeles; the Springfield to Chicago section could be "U.S. 60 North". Avery returned with "U.S. 60 South" for the Springfield–Virginia Beach alignment. Kentucky threatened to walk completely out of the new highway system (individual states could not be forced to participate in it). Finally, Kentucky offered a compromise: connect their highway with Avery's in Springfield and give their highway the number 60. Avery could have his Chicago–Los Angeles highway if he would accept the number 62 which was originally assigned to their road. Avery disliked the number 62, found out 66 was not used, and designated the Chicago–Los Angeles highway as U.S. 66. In 1926, the Federal Highway System was approved by Congress. With this done, Congress also de-certified all the old "association" highways.

Avery and the U.S. 66 Association

In 1927, Avery pushed for the creation of the

Lon Scott for to promote the new highway.[6]
: 11  He got a business connection in Springfield, Missouri appointed as president. In the 1930s, Avery would attempt to have himself elected president of the organization, but he never succeeded.

Death

Essie Avery died in October 1962.[1] Cyrus Avery died in Los Angeles, California on July 2, 1963,[1][2] and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Tulsa.[8] Avery Drive, a street in southwest Tulsa, was named for him.[3]

Honors

In 1997, the National Historic Route 66 Federation established a Cyrus Avery Award, which has been presented variously to individuals for outstanding creativity in depicting Route 66,[1][9] and to organizations for noteworthy preservation projects.[1][10]

In 2004, the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma renamed the Eleventh Street Bridge (which carried US 66 over the Arkansas River), the Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge in his honor.[1]

In late 2012, artist

Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza at Southwest Boulevard at Riverside Drive in Tulsa.[11] The detailed 135%-scale bronze depicts Avery stopping his Ford on the 11th Street Bridge as the vehicle frightened two horses pulling a wagon laden with oil barrels.[12]

Notes

  1. ^ This bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is now closed to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cyrus StevensAvery (1871–1963), Oklahoma State University, The Cyrus S. Stevens Collection." Archived September 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Accessed July 8, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Everett, Dianna. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture: Cyrus Stevens Avery. Retrieved July 25, 2011. Archived January 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b "History of Southwest Tulsa." Chapter Seven:Historic Route 66. Available on Google Books.
  4. ^ ""The Father of Route 66." Retrieved July 24, 2011". Archived from the original on September 10, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
  5. ^ "Daughter of Route 66 Innovator Dies." Retrieved September 20, 2007
  6. ^
    ISBN 0-312-08285-1
    .
  7. ^ a b National Park Service, "11th Street Arkansas River Bridge Tulsa, Oklahoma".
  8. ^ "Find a grave: Cyrus Stevens Avery."Retrieved July 24, 2011.
  9. ^ Route 66 Association Summer 1997 Newsletter Archived July 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ About The National Historic Route 66 Federation Archived October 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ "Southwest Boulevard lanes to be closed for Route 66 statue assembly". Tulsa World. October 26, 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
  12. ^ "New Sculpture Along Route 66 In Tulsa Nearing Completion". KOTV News On 6, Tulsa OK. October 26, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.

External links

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