MOVING WORDS

Here is a brief outline for The National Museum of Transportation’s Route 66 Plans for 2026, the 100th celebration of Route 66’s existence as The Mother Road.

Roads

Our 1926 Willys automobile represents the year it all started! The Earl C. Lindburg Automobile Center will display one car from each decade over the 100-year history of Route 66. Signature pieces of the collection include a Chrysler Turbine car, the Bobby Darin Dream Car, and a 1970 Barracuda.

River

Drivers crossing the Mississippi River bridges on Route 66 were sure to see the SS Admiral. The Museum’s Route 66 exhibit features a 26′, yes 26 feet, scale model of the iconic excursion steamboat that operated on the Mississippi River from the Port of St. Louis, Missouri, from 1940 to 1978.

Rooms

The Coral Court Motel was a 1941 U.S. Route 66 motel constructed in suburban St. Louis County, Missouri, and designated on the Nation Register of Historic Places in 1989 as a valuable example of the art deco and streamline modern architectural styles. It expanded to 77 rooms in the heday of automobile tourism. Coral Courts closed in 1993 and The National Museum of Transportation secured the facade of one of the rooms to display, capturing the bygone era of this roadside motel.

Reels

Flexor Drive Ins opened the Route 66 Park In Theatre on Watson Road in 1947. Wehrenberg took over operation in 1948. Wehrenberg was a household name in the St. Louis community operating more than 15 movie theaters with 213 screens. We thought it would be REEL special to feature the Wehrenberg family and take a look at the impact of the park in theatre on Route 66.