Will County author John Weiss will recall the history of “The Mother Road” including the northernmost segment from Chicago to St. Louis at the Homewood Historical Society meeting on April 8.

Following a brief business meeting at 6 p.m., Weiss will present at 6:30 p.m. in the meeting room of Homewood Public Library, 17917 Dixie Highway.

In “The Grapes of Wrath,” author John Steinbeck was the first to describe Route 66 as “The Mother Road” for enabling some 200,000 people to migrate from Dust Bowl-ravaged communities to California, hoping for a better life.  

Others have termed it “America’s Main Street.” By either name no roadway is more fabled. It was part of the original U.S. Numbered Highway System in the early 20th century, officially established on Nov. 11, 1926.

Weiss has written extensively about Route 66, especially the 436-mile portion in Illinois, from its traditional origin in Chicago near Michigan Avenue and Adams Street to the Chain of Rocks Bridge in Madison, where the highway continues over the Mississippi River to Missouri. The starting point was moved on March 25 to Navy Pier as part of the 100th anniversary celebration.

Weiss’s book, “Traveling the New, Historic Route 66 of Illinois,” details the still accessible portions of the road and its numerous points-of-interest.

Route 66 originally stretched 2,448 miles from Chicago to its terminus at the Santa Monica Pier in California. The road traversed eight states. Its legend grew with the recording of the song “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66,” composed by Bobby Troup and originally recorded by Nat King Cole in 1946. Later, “Route 66” was a popular TV series on CBS from 1960-64, chronicling the road adventures of two young men in a Corvette.

Route 66 ultimately gave way to the new Interstate Highway system starting in the 1950s. The Mother Road was decommissioned in 1985.