Oklahoma City installed a Route 66 centennial marker Thursday near the Will Rogers Theatre, one of four markers planned for locations across the city as the highway approaches its 100th anniversary. Three additional installations are planned in the coming days.
The marker stands at NW 43rd Street and Western Avenue, according to KFOR. The station reported that it is among more than two dozen Route 66 centennial monuments planned or installed between Chicago and California. Brian Brown, director of the Route 66 Centennial Monument Project, described the broader effort as the first national monument project dedicated to the entirety of Route 66, while the station said the markers are intended to help travelers experience the historic highway.
Each pole carries a QR sticker that links to a profile of its specific location, Brown said, according to KFOR's report. That digital layer is meant to connect roadside history to smartphones held by modern-day travelers retracing the route.
Who's Actually Building These Things
The markers are being fabricated in Oklahoma City by GS Signs, which KFOR identified as the project’s manufacturing partner. The company has worked on several Route 66 projects over the past two years, including the Big Red Boot, and produces the markers in batches that take about six weeks, according to the station.
Funding for Oklahoma City’s installations comes from the MAPS 4 sidewalk program, according to KFOR. The other three locations are planned for NW 39th Street and Barnes Avenue, NW 39th Street and Classen in the Asian District, and Classen Boulevard at Britton Road in the Britton District.
A Nod to the Red Boot Brigade
KFOR also reported that a photograph of the Red Boot Brigade, a group that included many women wearing red boots, will be placed in a 100-year time capsule as part of the centennial effort.
A Road With a Long Oklahoma History
Route 66's Oklahoma story stretches back a full century. The highway was designated in 1926 and ran through Oklahoma City on its path from Chicago toward California, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. It took more than a decade for the road to be fully paved in the state — Governor E.W. Marland dedicated a stretch west of Miami in 1937 that finally made U.S. 66 completely paved in Oklahoma, the historical society notes. By 1970, once Interstate 40 was finished in the western part of the state, traffic volume had largely shifted away from Route 66 toward the interstates, per the same source. The federal government decommissioned Route 66 as a highway in 1985, but the historical society notes it still draws visitors from around the world interested in Oklahoma's past.
Not the Only New Monument in Oklahoma
The Oklahoma City installations are part of a broader project that includes a monument at the Threatt Filling Station near Luther. KFOR reported that the site, which opened in 1915 as the first Black-owned filling station along Route 66, has its own monument and QR-linked history page. At the time of that report, eight monuments had been installed along the Mother Road, with 10 more expected within 90 days and roughly a dozen additional monuments planned afterward.
Preservation Beyond the Markers
Oklahoma City’s four planned markers sit within a larger Route 66 corridor: National Geographic’s Oklahoma City guide says 51.5 miles of the route run within the city limits. The city installations are also distinct from earlier preservation work; according to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, the state helped prepare a 2002 survey documenting Route 66 roadbeds and integral structures.
The Threatt site adds a separate dimension to the road’s history. The Oklahoma Historical Society identifies the family-owned 1915 filling station near Luther as a place that served African American travelers and local residents, rather than simply another stop in the highway’s general road narrative. The society’s State Historic Preservation Office handbook records the station at the junction of U.S. 66 and Pottawatomie Road as a National Register listing dated Feb. 23, 1995.
The Oklahoma City project also overlaps with a separate monument effort: A structure more than 15 feet tall was dedicated at NW 23rd Street and Hudson. Free Press OKC described that installation as Oklahoma City’s first Route 66 Centennial Monument, while KFOR identified Thursday’s marker near the Will Rogers Theatre as the first installation in its account. The Oklahoma Route 66 Centennial Commission endorsed the broader project in August, according to the report, which said the campaign was set to expand beyond Oklahoma in December across multiple states from Chicago to Santa Monica ahead of the 2026 centennial. The Route 66 Centennial organization also identifies 2026 as the highway’s 100th anniversary.
