Route 66 centennial highlights cosmic sites across Northern Arizona

FLAGSTAFF, N.C. – U.S. Route 66 is celebrating 100 years since it became one of the most iconic corridors in American history.

The road stretches 2,448 miles, starting in Chicago and ending in Santa Monica, California. Although the historic highway was decommissioned in the mid-1980s, towns and states created organizations to preserve what was left of the road.

With hundreds of miles running through the American Southwest, some of the out-of-this-world landmarks are found in Northern Arizona. 

There is little doubt that Meteor Crater, considered one of the world’s best-preserved meteorite impact sites, is one of the route’s most notable cosmic stops. But in the 1950s, people also reported a UFO crash in Kingman, Arizona, on the western portion of the route. Midway across Arizona’s stretch of Route 66 is Flagstaff, which locals call a gateway to the Grand Canyon — and to outer space.

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Before Route 66 was built, astronomer Percival Lowell moved to Flagstaff to build an observatory.

“They look up, and they see what looks like a big birthday cake up on the side of the hill,” Lowell Observatory historian Kevin Schindler said.

Percival Lowell believed there could be life on another planet, specifically Mars.

“And we know today that we haven’t found any intelligent life on Mars. But he built this consciousness that it could be there,” Schindler said.

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Then, in 1930, another astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh, discovered what was then considered the ninth planet, Pluto.

“And the fellow who discovered Pluto, Clyde Tombaugh, was born in Streator, Illinois,” Schindler said, “Not all that far off of Route 66, and then he made his great discovery right here.”

The observatory still has the telescope used to identify Pluto and uses it for educational purposes.

NASA has also gravitated to Flagstaff for training. In the 1960s, Apollo astronauts did lunar training at the Cinder Lake Crater Field, just northeast of the town. NASA scientists also used the terrain north of Flagstaff as a simulation of the moon, testing rovers and equipment.