Towns on Route 66 Named After Historic People Quiz

Answer: American Civil War

Jesse Lee Reno died while commanding a corps at Fox's Gap fighting the Battle of South Mountain during the Civil War. He was a career Army officer who had also served with bravery during the Mexican American War. At the conclusion of the Mexican American War he taught mathematics at West Point until the onset of the Civil War. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1859 and became a brigadier general 1861. The following year he was struck in the chest by a Confederate sharpshooter. He was brought to Brigadier General Sturgis where he declared "Hello, Sam, I'm dead!" and died shortly thereafter.

El Reno was a historic stop on the old Route 66 and the only city in Oklahoma with an operating downtown streetcar. Fort Reno, Oklahoma, was one of three forts named in Jesse L. Reno's honer after his death. The other two were in Washington, DC and Wyoming.

Answer: True

Lincoln was employed as an attorney for the railroad and helped plat the new town. On August 27, 1853, he was part of the ceremonies naming the town in his honor. He formally baptized the town by squeezing a watermelon on the ground.
The town of Lincoln was directly on Route 66 until 1978. Lincoln also became home to Lincoln College and Lincoln Christian University as well as the world's largest covered wagon. Other notable residents of the town included poet Langston Hughes, Brian Cook of the LA Clippers, author Henry Darger and NFL linebacker Ken Norton, Jr.

Answer: U.S. Army Air Service

Jimmy Doolittle saw his first airplane during a California airshow in 1910. He later enlisted in the Signal Corps Reserve as a flying cadet and began training other fliers during WWI. After WWII broke out Doolittle was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and given the task of organizing the United States Army Air Service's air raid on the Japanese homeland, receiving the Medal of Honor from President Franklin D. Roosevelt for leading the raid. After the attack he was promoted to Brigadier General before retiring from the military in 1959.

The town of Doolittle was originally called Centertown because it was half way between Rolla and Newburg. In 1946 Lt. General Jimmy Doolittle spoke at the dedication ceremonies in which the town was formally renamed in his honor.

The United States Air Force was formed as a separate branch in 1947. The Naval Air Corps had no significant structure until after WWII. The United States Marines were not fliers during air raids over Japan.

Answer: He developed the Cherokee alphabet.

Sequoyah was also known as George Guess. His father was a British trader named Nathaniel Gist and his mother was a Cherokee called Wut-teh. He was a silversmith by trade who developed the first system of reading and writing in the Cherokee language. After some initial resistance the Cherokees adopted his syllabic system in 1825 and the system has been used by the Cherokees ever since. Sequoyah went to Washington, D.C. as part of a delegation negotiating a treaty regarding Indian Territory land in 1828.

In 1848 he died during a trip to Mexico. The cabin where Sequoyah resided in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, became a National Historic Landmark in 1965. His exact age at the time of his death is not known because there was no formal recording of his birth. Route 66 passed directly through Sequoyah, Oklahoma, a small town of less than 1,000 residents.

Answer: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe

"On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" was composed for the 1946 film, "The Harvey Girls", and originally sung by Judy Garland. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was chartered in 1859. Many cars and locomotives have been restored and are located in several US cities.

William Barstow Strong was born in Vermont and graduated from Bell's Business College in Chicago. His first job was as a railroad station agent. In 1881 he succeeded T. Jefferson Coolidge as president of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and expanded the railway over 7,000 miles, making it the longest railroad of the time.
Barstow was a popular stop for tourists along Route 66 and the home of one of the longest running outdoor theaters, the Skyline Drive-In.

The Central Pacific Railroad was formed after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act authorizing a trans-continental railroad. The Union Pacific met the Central Pacific at Promontory Point, Utah, and united the nation's railway system in 1869. "The Chattanooga Choo Choo" was a popular song from the 1941 movie "Sun Valley Serenade".

Answer: Mad Anthony Wayne

Anthony Wayne's demeanor during battles earned him a commission as Brigadier General as well as the nickname "Mad" Anthony Wayne. He was born in Pennsylvania and became a surveyor. When the Revolutionary War started Wayne became colonel of the fourth Pennsylvania Regiment. He led a bayonets only charge during the Battle of Stoney Point. As a result of his victory George Washington appointed Wayne to command the Corps of Light Infantry in 1779. He led another bayonet charge against the British led by Charles Cornwallis.
After the war he negotiated a peace pact between the Creek and the Cherokee Indians, was rewarded with the a large rice plantation, entered politics and was promoted to major general. He passed away in 1796 from complications of gout.
Waynesville, Missouri, is the county seat of Pulaski County. Many scenic portions of old Route 66 have been preserved in the town.

Answer: Governor of the Illinois Territory

A settler named Thomas Kirkpatrick came to the area 1805. He established a community and served as Justice of the Peace. He named the community in honor of a friend, Ninian Edwards, who was at the time the territorial governor of Illinois. Illinois became a state later the same year. Edwardsville would go on the be the birthplace of five Illinois governors.

Answer: La Salle

In 1682 Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle named the Missouri River basin La Louisiane in honor of King Louis XIV. It was during one of his final expeditions into North America. He also explored the Ohio River as far as what is now Louisville, Kentucky. La Salle went on to establish Fort Saint Louis of Illinois, tried to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico and died in an uncertain area of Texas while attempting to colonize the area. St. Louis was acquired from France in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase and later became a popular destination while traveling Route 66 because it was where it crossed the Mississippi River.

In 1534 Jacques Cartier explored North American trying to find a route to the East indies. Champlain landed at the area which would become Quebec. Henry Hudson was an English explorer.

Answer: Canute

Canute the Great was born, Cnut, son of the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard. In 1013 he was part of a force led by his father to invade England, resulting in Danes ruling England for 20 years. In 1018 his older brother died and Cnut went to Denmark to affirm his succession to the Danish throne. Cnut died in 1035.

The town of Canute was established in February, 1899, by an independent town company that named it for the Danish king. A restored service station at the junction of Main and Route 66 is one of the many Route 66 holdovers from the mother road days in the small town.

Foss is a tiny community bordering Canute. North of Geary is the grave of Jesse Chisholm, founder of the tail of the same name. Erick, Oklahoma, was the Route 66 home town of singers Roger Miller and Sheb Wooley.

Answer: False

Around 1895 Victorville was originally called Victor after Jacob Nash Victor, the general manager of the California Southern Railroad. In 1901 the Post Office changed the name in order to eliminate confusion with Victor, Colorado. In 1926 Route 66 passed through Victorville and the same roadway is still part of the revitalized section known as Old Town Victorville.

In the forties Herman J. Mankiewicz and John Houseman wrote the first drafts of the "Citizen Kane" screenplay at the Green Spot motel on Route 66 in Victorville. The Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum was housed in Victorville until 2003, when it relocated to Branson, Missouri. Scenes from over a dozen films have been shot in Victorville and the surrounding countryside.