Cyrus Stevens Avery

Cyrus Stevens Avery was elected Tulsa County Commissioner in 1913. The following year, he helped organize the Albert Pike Highway Association and was President for nine years during which the Association developed Highway 64 from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Hot Springs, Arkansas., In 1921, he became President of the Associated Highways of America and was influential in the construction of highways across the nation. In 1924, Avery was appointed as the State Highway Commissioner of Oklahoma and he became the chief agent in creating the state's highway system., In 1925, Avery was appointed Consulting Highway Specialist to the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads and was tasked with the creation of a national highway system and the assignment of numbers to those highways. His influence and efforts with the Bureau created a highway that stretched across eight states and three time zones from Chicago to Los Angeles - a road that would later become known as Route 66., In order to demonstrate the feasibility of going through Oklahoma instead of a route further north, Avery took the members of the Route 66 Commission across the state aboard the Pickwick Bus Line (the forerunner of Greyhound), which provided a 26-passenger bus service through Oklahoma. At the end of the trip, Avery and other members of the Commission stood next to the bus for a photograph with Avery holding a Route 66 sign. Thus, Cyrus Stevens Avery became known as the "Father of Route 66.", Cyrus Avery was a civic leader who had progressive ideas and sponsored many innovative projects. Avery was a board member and/or supporter of numerous projects in Tulsa, and Tulsa County. Those projects included the Tulsa Municipal Airport, Tulsa's Mohawk Park, and Tulsa's International Petroleum Exposition. He also served on Tulsa's Water Board and was instrumental in the development of the City's Spavinaw water supply system., Cyrus Stevens Avery died in Tulsa on July 2, 1963 at the age of 91.