Texas: Route 66, SH 207 to Interstate 40

Route 66, Texas SH 207 to Interstate 40 in Conway, TX

Photo courtesy of Rhys Martin

Quick Facts

Significance:

Historic road segment along Route 66

Designation:

National Register of Historic Places

The segment of Route 66 between State Highway 207 and Interstate 40 is the longest and best preserved section of Route 66 in Texas. Turn off your cell phone, and you won’t need the GPS. Put on your Ray Bans. Open a Coca Cola, the kind that comes in a sweating green glass bottle. Put some Sinatra on the player, and roll down the windows. It’s time to drive the 7.2 miles of Route 66 west of Conway, Texas.

Motorists on the two-lane road will pass a windmill after a mile or so. Driving a little farther, they will see concrete agricultural buildings on the south side of the road, important reminders of the regional economy. As the road intersects County Road L (dirt) and, a little later, County Road K (also dirt) stop to look around, because with the exception of a single windmill way off in the distance, visitors can see not a single modern intrusion, only wide open range. The abandoned railroad bed beside this stretch of Route 66 serves as a reminder of how expansive the landscape is, and how quiet.

Between 1930 and the mid 1960s, travelers along this stretch of Route 66 experienced much of what you see today. From here to Carson County (where travelers can get back on I-40) you will experience only old Route 66, fences, dirt farm roads, grain elevators, and more windmills. Early in the 1900s, this roadway was little more than a dirt path. In 1930, the path was paved, and by 1940, it was a bustling highway. An aerial view today looks much the same as it did then -- a straight line of highway framed on both sides by square agricultural fields in various shades of brown, yellow, and green.

When Interstate 40 was completed through Carson County, this section of Route 66 became Texas Farm Road 2161, part of the county’s highway system. Today it is the longest and best preserved section of Route 66 in Texas, carrying local traffic and travelers out to capture the distinctly American ambiance of old Route 66. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

This section of Route 66 is in the vicinity of Conway, TX and is labeled locally as Texas Farm Rd. 2161. Access from the east is from State Highway 207/County Rd. N and from the west is from Interstate 40 exit 89.

See the Route 66, SH 207 to Interstate 40 National Register nomination form.