BIRTHPLACE OF ROUTE 66

It was in Springfield, on April 30, 1926, that Cyrus Avery, then head of the board of directors of the new route gathered at the Colonial Hotel (no longer in existence), communicated the official name of the route connecting Chicago to Los Angeles. In 1992, on the occasion of the 66th anniversary of the Mother Road and in remembrance of this event, the Route 66 Association of Missouri designated Springfield as the official birthplace of Route 66. In addition to a sign on the east side of Park Central Square, a square was created on the site of the now defunct Reds' Giant Hamburg.