{"id":8906,"date":"2026-03-11T16:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/?p=8906"},"modified":"2026-03-11T08:47:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:47:31","slug":"route-66-centennial-exhibit-opens-march-14-at-the-national-museum-of-transportation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/route-66-centennial-exhibit-opens-march-14-at-the-national-museum-of-transportation\/","title":{"rendered":"Route 66 Centennial Exhibit Opens March 14 at the National Museum of Transportation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The National Museum of Transportation will open a new special exhibition, \u201cRoads. River. Rooms. Reels.\u201d<\/strong>, on Saturday, March 14, 2026<\/strong>, commemorating the 100th anniversary of historic Route 66<\/strong>. The exhibit celebrates the culture, commerce, and community that grew along the legendary highway, with a special focus on the St. Louis region\u2019s role in the story of America\u2019s \u201cMother Road.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Route 66, established in 1926, connected Chicago to Los Angeles and quickly became one of the most famous highways in the world. Missouri \u2014 and particularly the St. Louis area \u2014 played an essential role in the highway\u2019s history as a gateway for travelers heading west.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A centerpiece of the exhibit is a striking 22-foot model of the Admiral riverboat<\/strong>, completed by the Sheet Metal Workers Local 36<\/strong>. The Admiral, once a beloved St. Louis entertainment landmark on the Mississippi River, represents the vital connection between road travel and river culture that shaped the region\u2019s tourism and entertainment industries.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The exhibition also highlights Route 66\u2019s automotive heritage in the Museum\u2019s Earl C. Lindburg Automobile Center<\/strong>, where visitors will find one vehicle representing each decade of Route 66\u2019s existence<\/strong>, illustrating the evolution of American automobiles during the highway\u2019s most active years. From early touring cars of the 1920s to the muscle and cruising culture of the later decades, the display captures how the road influenced American mobility and design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Route 66 story would be complete without its roadside attractions and entertainment venues. The exhibit pays tribute to the Wehrenberg theater family<\/strong>, whose name became synonymous with moviegoing in St. Louis for generations. Along the Route 66 corridor, the \u201c66 Park-In Theater\u201d on Watson Road<\/strong> became a beloved destination for travelers and locals alike. As one of the area\u2019s classic drive-in theaters, the Park-In offered families the chance to watch first-run films under the stars \u2014 an experience that perfectly captured the spirit of mid-century highway travel and leisure. The Wehrenberg legacy, along with other roadside entertainment landmarks, reflects how Route 66 helped shape the social life and memories of the communities it touched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRoads. River. Rooms. Reels.\u201d brings together these stories \u2014 transportation, hospitality, entertainment, and regional identity \u2014 to illustrate how Route 66 connected people and places across Missouri and the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition is included with general museum admission<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0National Museum of Transportation<\/strong>, located at\u00a02933 Barrett Station Road in Kirkwood, Missouri<\/strong>, is\u00a0open daily through Labor Day<\/strong>, with the exception of\u00a0Sunday, April 5<\/strong>, when the Museum will be closed.\u00a0 More Museum information may be found at\u00a0tnmot.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Museum of Transportation will open a new special exhibition, \u201cRoads. River. Rooms. Reels.\u201d, on Saturday, March 14, 2026, commemorating the 100th anniversary of historic Route 66. The exhibit celebrates the culture, commerce, and community that grew along the legendary highway, with a special focus on the St. Louis region\u2019s role in the story of America\u2019s \u201cMother […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,1,1152,276,7],"tags":[17,12,58,147,19,1297,1319,146],"class_list":["post-8906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-town","category-blog","category-events","category-family","category-inside","tag-around-town-2","tag-blog-2","tag-events","tag-family","tag-inside-fun","tag-museum-of-transportation","tag-route-66","tag-st-louis"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/image001-11.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JMKA-2jE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8906"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8908,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8906\/revisions\/8908"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlouisdad.com\/s\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}