The Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff will open a Route 66 exhibit that runs from Nov. 16 to Oct. 26, 2026.
The Arizona Daily Sun reported:
Called “Wagon Road to Mother Road,” the exhibit looks at the way travel has affected landscapes and communities in northern Arizona, from the Beale Wagon Road to Route 66. The exhibit is timed to the Route 66 Centennial, as the highway was designated on Nov. 11, 1926.
“Each new mode of travel along this route affected the settlement that has become Flagstaff, the territory that has become Arizona and the nation that is the United States,” said MNA supervisory archaeologist and historian David Purcell. “With improved roads, the Southwest became a place to go for its own sake instead of just a crossing to endure.”
The exhibit includes artifacts, maps, music and memorabilia from the road’s history, including a 1931 Ford Model A, a hand-painted map and midcentury gas pump. Other objects uncovered by museum archaeologists will also be on display.
The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. On Thursdays, it’s open until 7 p.m. The location is 3101 N. Fort Valley Road (map here) on the city’s north side.
(Image of a hand-painted Route 66 map that was once displayed in a Flagstaff business, via the Museum of Northern Arizona)