Claremont has a new landmark glowing over one of its busiest intersections. The city unveiled a light-up Route 66 monument sign at Foothill Boulevard and Indian Hill Boulevard on Monday, joining a growing list of American towns marking the historic highway's 100th anniversary.
The sign is Claremont's contribution to a coast-to-coast commemoration, and according to a city news release cited by the Daily Bulletin, it is the 33rd monument of its kind installed in the nation. Foothill Boulevard, where the sign now stands, was once part of the original Route 66 alignment through the city. Claremont Mayor Jennifer Stark said the monument celebrates the city's connection to Route 66 and welcomes residents and visitors, adding that Route 66 is part of the story of Claremont and the communities that grew and evolved along its iconic road, per the same city statement.
The installation ties Claremont to what organizers call the Route 66 Centennial Monument Project, described by route66centennial.org as a national art installation and placemaking effort created to mark the Mother Road's 100th anniversary. Communities from Chicago to Santa Monica are taking part, according to the same organization, hanging their own versions of the double-sided signs along the old highway corridor. Each monument includes a name box identifying its specific town or neighborhood along with a QR code meant to direct visitors to local history and tourism information, route66centennial.org notes.
Who Built the Monuments and Why They Look the Way They Do
The project carries official backing: it is listed as a recommended project of the U.S. Route 66 Centennial Commission, according to route66monuments.com. The signs themselves were designed by VOX Industries in collaboration with public artist Stan Carroll, the site states, and each stands 16 feet tall, is double-sided, and is built from routed steel with internal LED lighting designed to make the monuments glow after dark. Route66monuments.com adds that the effort is being implemented by the National Park Service in partnership with the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership. Brian Brown serves as director of the Route 66 Centennial Monument Project, and Claremont resident Mindi Meader, who maintains a website dedicated to the city's historic Route 66 location, was connected to Monday's unveiling.
Route 66 itself turns 100 this year. The road's numerical designation was assigned on April 30, 1926, and it was formally commissioned that November 11, according to route66roadtrip.com. At its full extent, the highway stretched 2,448 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles, the site notes, cutting across the country and through small towns that would come to define its legend.
A Highway That Once Kept Small Towns Alive
That legacy carries an economic dimension beyond nostalgia. As the road was modernized, it provided a genuine economic lifeline to businesses in small towns, which gained access to larger markets along the highway, according to Atlas Obscura. That history helps explain why so many communities along the old route are marking the centennial with physical monuments rather than letting the anniversary pass quietly.
Claremont's sign arrives amid a wave of centennial activity across Southern California and beyond. West Hollywood held its own free Route 66 Centennial Celebration at Plummer Park last month, featuring a classic-car showcase and a program to unveil a new Route 66 street sign, according to weho.org. That city also planned three Route 66-themed artworks along Santa Monica Boulevard as part of its Creative Plan initiative, with artist Vinnie Hager's work slated for installation there as well as in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, the West Hollywood website states.
Bigger Monuments, Same Milestone, Elsewhere on the Route
Farther from California, Springfield, Missouri has planned an even larger tribute: a nearly 30-foot illuminated monument called Queen's Gate 66, designed as a gateway symbolizing the city's status as the birthplace of Route 66, per route66roadtrip.com. The centennial has also spurred broader commemorative efforts, including the Route 66 REMAP StoryMap series from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and AAA's Route 66 Road Fest, according to route66centennial.org.
For now, Claremont's own monument stands lit at Foothill and Indian Hill, a quieter but no less deliberate marker of the same milestone being celebrated from Illinois to the Pacific coast. The sign adds Claremont's name to a list of dozens of communities choosing to memorialize a road that, a century later, still shapes how they see themselves.
