Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

The U.S. Highway system is celebrating its one-hundredth anniversary this year. I have only been traveling these roads for over half of that time, but I think some of you will appreciate where I have been and what I’ve seen.

I am most familiar with Route 66 from the late 1950s until Interstate 44 was completed from St. Louis, MO, to Oklahoma in or around 1966. Uncle Paul and Aunt Nina lived outside of Marshfield, and Uncle Dean and Aunt Ima June lived in Lebanon. Clyde and Julie and their son Don lived on Route 66 outside of Northview, MO. Good luck finding that one on a map on your phone.

Most Saturdays and Sundays were taken up with going to see these relatives or others that we took 66 to the county roads they lived on. If you live in the Springfield area and would like to experience some of what I am telling you about, I will share the types of rides we would take.

Often, we would drive up the highway through Strafford to Northview Hill. Don and his wife and kids lived in their home, and up the road were Julie and Clyde with their two younger boys. Shortly before the two-lane road was bypassed by the Interstate, they purchased the Hill Top Motel and lived in it until Julie’s death.

Junior and Gary had their model cars in one of the units, and we always wanted to play with them the way we did our own. As I watched the original movie, “Cars”, I started crying. The scene was where Mater takes Lightning McQueen up Old 66 past an old hotel and talks about parking on that ridge and watching the new highway being built.

My mind went on to a day in 1965 when my dad, Clyde, two cousins, my two brothers, and I stood across the street from their home and looked over the hill at the construction crew cutting the roadway through the mountain. By the time that movie came out, there were only three of us still alive.

Sixty-six also took us up to Marshfield to what was referred to later as the Spur. This intersection led to Kittrell’s farm, or a right would take us into Marshfield for the Fourth of July parade or other events. I think almost every Independence Day of my youth was spent at the oldest parade west of the Mississippi River. I must brag that even US presidents have gone for that celebration.

Further up the highway, you get to Lebanon, MO, and at one time, Uncle Dean owned a Service Station just outside of town. Their house was behind the garage, and I remember spending at least one weekend with them. We watched TV on Saturday night, and I remember watching “The Highway Patrol” with my cousins.

A lot of events continued along where the Mother Road ran after 1966. We usually traveled Interstate 44 to Marshfield and Lebanon after Route 66 was replaced and decommissioned. We still used the old highway to drive to Northview Hill while we had family there. Don had moved from his house there and passed away a few years ago.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger