Cyrus Avery

Cyrus Avery. . , Widely acknowledged as the "Father of Route 66," Cyrus Avery was born on August 31, 1871 in Stephensville, Pennsylvania. After graduating from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, Avery moved to Indian Territory where he was a manager of the Oklahoma City office of the New York Life Insurance Company from 1898 to 1904. He then spent three years in Vinita, Oklahoma working in real estate. When he moved to Tulsa in 1907, Avery continued to participate in residential development, although even then his interests extended beyond single projects. Avery became involved with local government, serving on the Tulsa County Commission from 1913 to 1916 and on the Tulsa Water Board in the 1920s when the board initiated the Spavinaw Lake Project to bring water to the developing young city. , Avery had the foresight to understand the potential popularity of the automobile and its impact on commerce, specifically the tourist industry. He joined several transcontinental road associations with the intent of promoting the construction and maintenance of roads and interstate highways. As vice president of the Ozark Trail Association, he orchestrated the decision to hold the Association's national convention in Tulsa in 1916. The Association promoted the Ozark Trail Highway, which was designated in the early 1920s. It included a section through Oklahoma and specifically through Tulsa., Cyrus Avery served as state highway commissioner from 1922 to 1926. In 1926 the Ozark Trail was one of the many highways used to form U.S. Highway 66. Avery served as the vice president of the renamed U.S. Highway 66 Association in 1927. , In addition to public service, Avery was an entrepreneur and a salesman. The original alignment of Route 66 traveled west along East 11th Street and jogged one mile north along Mingo Road to Admiral Place (known at the time as Federal Drive). From there, Route 66 ran west along Admiral Place into downtown Tulsa and continued across the 11th street bridge out of Tulsa along South Quanah Road (Southwest Boulevard). This alignment brought the new highway directly in front of Avery's farmstead at the edge of Admiral Place. Avery opened one of the new highway's first service enterprises, including a filling station, a tourist camp, and the Old English Inn. The Mingo Road traffic circle surrounds the historic location of Avery's properties, long since demolished., In 1935-1936 Avery served as the Works Progress Administration administrator for the Tulsa area. He retired from sales in 1958, and died in California in 1963. Avery was laid to rest in Tulsa at the Rose Hill Park Cemetery located on East Admiral Place and South Yale Avenue.