Chapter Summaries of The Byways Report: The Scenic Route to Rural Prosperity

Chapter Summaries

1. Introduction
   Route-based tourism uses what makes small towns special to enchant visitors and boost prosperity.
2. Why is the Kansas City Fed writing this report?
   The Kansas City Fed territory includes four of the eight states that Route 66 traverses on its path from Chicago to Los Angeles. The Route 66 Centennial in 2026 was the catalyst for this report. Route-based tourism is well suited for small towns and rural areas. While Route 66 is legendary, it is, like any byway, a connector between communities.
3. Our research found ten main themes to strengthen or start a byway
   We asked national experts and people doing the work along byways for their advice on pursuing byways as an economic development strategy. Ten themes stood out.
4. Back roads, byways journeys are America at its best
   Byways link places that matter to people. This is the story of the beloved Blue Whale of Catoosa, how it was nearly lost and how it was saved.
5. Byways can be designated nationally or at the state and local levels
   The nationally designated byways program is called America’s Byways, but most byways are designated at the state or local level, or by tribal governments.
6. Tourism is serious economic development for rural areas
   Maree Forbes Gaughan has worked on or advised nearly 450 of America’s 1,100-plus byways. She shares the typical economic impact of a byway, and one major – but surmountable – barrier to rural tourism.
7. Rural development hubs can pull the region together
   Janet Topolsky shares an asset-based approach to rural development that helps rural areas leverage assets to meet and create progressively greater opportunity over time. Rural development hubs are key.
8. Small towns build and deploy their own philanthropic funds
   The Nebraska Community Foundation works with communities to build unrestricted endowments. Red Cloud, Nebraska, home of Pulitzer Prize winning author Willa Cather, used its endowment to study heritage tourism.
9. The byway that bluegrass built
   When mining jobs disappeared, southwest Virginia created a 19-county, 333-mile music trail built around Appalachian music. The Crooked Road Music Trail pulls visitors from around the globe.
10. Destination marketing organizations help byways build (and sell) the visitor experience
    The DMO’s job is to say, if you have this attraction, here is what you need to best serve your visitors. Sharon Strouse of the National Scenic Byway Association shares marketing advice.
11. Route 66 an epic, quirky trip into America’s past
    Traveling Route 66 means navigating a road that no longer officially exists and meeting people who are preserving history, building businesses and strengthening community along the way.
12. To understand why people care about Route 66, start with the history
    Route 66 was a shining ribbon of possibility during some of the most daunting and vivid decades in American history. Rutgers University studies show the lasting economic impact of the Mother Road, and where communities are leaving money on the table.
13. More miles, more love for Route 66 in Oklahoma
    Led by the lieutenant governor, Oklahoma legislators embrace tourism as economic development, devoting a $6.6 million annual revolving fund to revitalize and preserve the Mother Road. The Centennial kick-off event celebrates Andy Payne, the Cherokee Nation citizen who won the 1928 “bunion derby.”
14. Miami: Preserve the past to secure your future
    At 19, Eli Chenoweth paid $23,000 for the 1929 Marathon filling station. He and his wife Tori are just getting started. Friends of the Coleman volunteers preserve the ornate, massive Coleman Theatre. Main Street America helps preserve historic downtowns, because “you don’t run the parade through your industrial park.”
15. Vinita: The Cherokee Nation story is intertwined with Route 66
    As Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr., said, “The road weaves through communities that remain Cherokee communities.” In 2008, the Cherokee Nation identified cultural tourism as an important economic development tool. In 2022, the Nation opened its $5 million Cherokee Nation Anna Mitchell Cultural and Welcome Center on Route 66 in Vinita.
16. Vinita: Be like the Hi-Way Café, and create an experience
    Beth and Alan Hilburn use giants, neon, a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records, and ties to the local community and to businesses up and down Route 66 to help travelers create treasured memories.
17. Clinton: This is how you pass the torch
    The West OK Co-op is reinvigorating Clinton, Oklahoma, by strengthening its connection to the Mother Road and winning over long-time residents. Oklahoma’s Route 66 Commission granted the group nearly $1 million for the Hub City Gateway project, to be built over a 400-foot stretch of the original 1926 road base.
18. Threatt filling station a safe haven during Jim Crow days
    Once considered endangered, the Threatt filling station is restored and moving closer to telling the story of travel for Black Americans during the era of Jim Crow laws, which enforced racial segregation.
19. Clinton: Encourage the volunteers. They bring passion, skill and pride to byways.
    When Arcadia’s famed Round Barn collapsed, an army of volunteers calling itself the Over-the-Hill Gang rebuilt it. Its leader is among those enshrined in the Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame at the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton. Rhys Martin, president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, energizes volunteers along Route 66.
20. El Reno visitor center benefits travelers and local residents
    The renovated mid-century fuel station is now a Convention and Visitor’s Bureau office and visitor’s center, with a hot-rod museum and mural by a local artist.
21. America shifts from east to west just past Oklahoma City
    In the middle of the state, you understand why “Red Dirt” describes what is uniquely Oklahoman. A little farther west, trees and people thin out and the sky expands.
22. Sayre: Even a little support can make a huge difference
    Suzanne Hylton led creation of the Rivers Edge Arts Society to promote the arts in Sayre. She says state funding for Route 66 revitalization grants and the Route 66 Passport program has helped boost economic development.
23. Conclusion
    If these stories spark anything, we hope they encourage an appreciative look at the history, beauty, culture and people in America’s small towns. No matter what your position, there is a role for you in building an exciting new scenic journey.