Route 66

[Lindsay Architect]

Does anyone have a collection of aerials showing Rt 66 through OKC before modern interstate highways.

[Pete]

I have access to several; hi-res versions from 1954 and 1969.

What year? What section?

See below for the Wikipedia entry for the various routes Route 66 has taken through Oklahoma City over the years.

Route 66 was signed in Oklahoma City by 1929. Its initial routing entered from the west on 39th Street and turned south on Classen Boulevard and east on 23rd Street. State Highway 7 entered from the south on Robinson Avenue, which also carried State Highway 4, State Highway 9, and U.S. Highway 77. At the intersection of 23rd Street and Lincoln Boulevard, just north of the State Capitol, State Highways 3 and 9 continued east, along with U.S. Highway 266, while the other routes, including Route 66, turned north. After leaving the city limits, continuing on Lincoln Boulevard (including the present Beverly Drive), it jogged east on Grand Boulevard (now Interstate 44) to reach Kelley Avenue.[10] By 1931, traffic was routed via Western Avenue rather than Classen Boulevard, and a new U.S. Route 66 Alternate bypassed downtown, turning north rather than south on Western Avenue to Britton and east on Britton Road to Kelley Avenue.[11] By 1935 Route 66 used May Avenue rather than Western Avenue; the alternate route continued to use Western Avenue,[12] moving to Classen Boulevard south of 53rd Street on March 18, 1936. The alternate route was eventually moved to May Avenue on May 6, 1947.[1]

On March 2, 1953, about the time the Northwest Expressway, Northeast Expressway, and Turner Turnpike were completed, US 66 was realigned to make use of this bypass. It turned north from 39th Street at May Avenue to reach the expressways, and followed them to Kelley, where it continued to turn north towards Edmond. The continuation of the Northeast Expressway to the Oklahoma City Terminus of the turnpike was labeled State Highway 66A; this route had extended west to May Avenue before March 2.[13] (State Highway 3 used the Northwest Expressway west of May Avenue.) The old Route 66 through downtown, via May Avenue, 23rd Street, and Lincoln Boulevard, became U.S. Route 66 Business, and the alternate route was eliminated. A short realignment was made on August 2, 1954, using the new West Expressway from 39th Street and May Avenue to the Northwest Expressway west of Classen Boulevard.[1]

State Highway 66A became part of Route 66 by 1956, when the new road (now Interstate 35) was built from the Turner Turnpike north to Route 66 east of Edmond. The old route via Edmond became State Highway 66 (and State Highway 77, since it had replaced U.S. Highway 77).[14] The business route was deleted on March 5, 1979, and at about the same time the new route of the West Expressway, bypassing Classen Circle, was completed.[1][15]

[Jim Kyle]

The wikipedia entry is incomplete. At some point in the mid-1930s, the route coming in from the west on NW 39 turned south at Portland. The curve at the SW corner of that intersection is clearly visible in aerial photos from the 50s, and still exists today as part of the drive for the service station there. I distinctly remember turning there when my family drove from Elk City to OKC to shop at John A. Brown's downtown, before 1940.

[Lindsay Architect]

I'm interested in any area, maybe the area from the present day I44 interchange just west of May to classen, and possible around the Lincoln and Kelly area? Can you tell me the best way to find aerials.?

[Lindsay Architect]

I wonder what the reasoning is for moving from classen to western to may etc etc...

[Pete]

These are all from 1954:

[Lindsay Architect]

I'm trying to follow the last image on google earth.. Is that flipped or mirrored from the rest?

[Pete]

It was flipped; it's corrected now.

[Jim Kyle]

It was flipped; it's corrected now.

Check that first shot, Pete. I think you may be off by about a mile on the street IDs. If I can still read aerials, what you have as Portland is actually May, and "Meridian" is actually Portland. Look at NW 36 where it crosses Deep Fork; that's a couple of blocks east of May, not between May and Portland!

[Pete]

You are absolutely right, Jim. Thanks.

I corrected the image (may need to refresh your browser to see the new one).

[Lindsay Architect]

Where could I buy aerials like this? I am not having much luck trying to find them on the Internet.

[Pete]

I have procured them for the OKC area for 1954 and 1969.

You're not going to find them on the Internet.

[RadicalModerate]

I find it interesting that The "Official" Route 66 bypassed Oklahoma City "Proper" on its way to Yukon and El Reno.
Or on its way from El Reno to Arcadia, if you prefer.
(Great maps! Thanks! I love this sort of thing.)

[Snowman]

I find it interesting that The "Official" Route 66 bypassed Oklahoma City "Proper" on its way to Yukon and El Reno.
Or on its way from El Reno to Arcadia, if you prefer.
(Great maps! Thanks! I love this sort of thing.)

Then as now it is often both cheaper and politically easier to build highways around existing neighborhood developments than through it.

[Joe Kimball]

I have procured them for the OKC area for 1954 and 1969.

You're not going to find them on the Internet.

Thanks again for the amazing shots! I absolutely LOVE old aerial photography, and understandably these types of shots are quite rare, especially for now-developed areas that were solely agricultural back in the day. It's an interesting thought to consider the history we simply drive over in the course of our daily events.

[Pete]

I'll soon have all the high-res aerials from 1969 on the site.

It's an incredible amount of work, as the images are raw and unlabeled. What I've decided to do is create a page for each intersection going out a half mile in every direction; basically a square mile of the city centered on the major intersection.

I'm trying to put in at least the primary street names, label the larger landmarks, then number everything else. What I'm hoping is that with the help of everyone here, that we can identify each business in each aerial. That way, we'll have a complete inventory of the city for 1969.

Then, I'd like to do it for 1954 and maybe sometime in the 70's and/or 80's.


The idea being that we would have a record / index of pretty much everything that ever existed in post 50's OKC.


I also have thousands of old ads we can tie back into these businesses / stores / restaurants.


I've been working on this for months and it's a big part of why I wanted to get the wiki software installed. You'll soon see the role it will play in all of this.

[Joe Kimball]

That's amazing!

I have enough old maps and time that I could perhaps assist with some basic labeling, if you like.

[Pete]

I'm certainly going to need lots of help.

Should be a really fun project. The maps are quite hi-res so they are fun to look at.