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America on the Move
Collection Exhibition Themes
Transportation in America before 1876 Community Dreams: Santa Cruz, California, 1876 Delivering the Goods: Watsonville, California, 1895 A Streetcar City: Washington, D.C., 1900 People on the Move The Connected City: New York, New York, 1920s Crossing the Country: Somewhere in Wyoming, 1903 Americans Adopt the Auto Lives on the Railroad: Salisbury, North Carolina, 1927 Roadside Communities: Ring's Rest, Muirkirk, Maryland, 1930s Family Camping: York Beach, Maine, 1930s On the School Bus: Martinsburg, Indiana, 1939 Suburban Strip: Sandy Boulevard, Portland, Oregon, 1949 City and Suburb: Chicago and Park Forest, Illinois, 1950s On the Interstate: I-10, 1956-1990 Transforming the Waterfront: San Francisco and Oakland, California, 1960-1970 Going Global: Los Angeles Introduction The People's Highway Cyrus Avery: 'The most direct road to the Pacific coast' Lucille Hamons: 'I was alone here to run this place.' The Haggard family: 'Headed west toward California' Caroline Millbank, Janet McDonnel, Ethel May Krockenberger, and Mary Jane Pecora: 'Our rest stops were lots of fun' Bobby and Cynthia Troup: 'Get your kicks on Route 66' The Delgadillo family: 'Playing with bands up and down Route 66' Pete Koltnow: 'Bumpy seats and the open road' Indian Trading Posts
10: The People's Highway: Route 66, 1930s–1940s

Indian Trading Posts

Route 66 crossed parts of New Mexico that had long been tourist attractions. Starting in the early 1900s, the Santa Fe Railway promoted the area to wealthy tourists. Fred Harvey Company car tours (“Indian Detours,” the company called them) opened up more of the region. Tourists came for the natural beauty of the area and for a peek at the “exotic” Indian and Hispanic cultures. Tourists wanted souvenirs, and storeowners and Indian craftspeople were happy to oblige them. The first popular tourist crafts were Navajo weaving and silverwork.
Navajo Indian Trading Post at the Great Divide filling station, New Mexico, about 1940
Navajo Indian Trading Post at the Great Divide filling station, New Mexico, about 1940
Dozens of small “Indian trading posts” lined Route 66, selling Indian crafts as well as groceries and other goods.
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