paved with history<\/a>, from its early days as an escape from the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, through serving as a vital supply route during World War II, to its mid-century role as an antidote for wanderlust. A symbol of freedom and mobility, it has evolved into a time capsule of Americana, steeped in nostalgia and neon.<\/p>\nAs teenagers in 1988, Schwartz and his best friend had planned a road trip after girlfriends introduced them to Depeche Mode, where they discovered a cover of Bobby Troup’s 1946 pop standard, \u201c(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66.\u201d Schwartz’s mother nixed his participation, delaying his first taste of the open road until 2004. <\/p>\n
To Schwartz, the road \u2014 stretching 2,448 miles (3,940 kilometers) \u2014 represents a significant piece of a newly mobile 20th century America, from its debut in 1926 to its decommissioning in 1985: \u201cRoad trips, big cars, neon signs.\u201d Though retired from the federal highway system, vast stretches of the route are still in use and a favorite of road warriors and tourists to this day.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo much to explore. You start here in Illinois on 66 and you\u2019re cruising through prairie land,\u201d Schwartz said during a recent interview in Springfield. \u201cBy the time you get out west, you’re in the desert or you\u2019re in mountains through hairpin turns. It\u2019s just an incredible journey and you just get such a beautiful slice of America going through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tired of retail management, Schwartz went back to school to study photography and had the idea of Route 66 stamps as early as a decade ago. He was tapped for the project in 2023. He recalls thinking, \u201cHere is my moment to bring Route 66 to the masses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greg Breeding, a USPS art director for stamp design, was working on a graphic showing a map of the road when he discovered Schwartz\u2019s photos. They were beautifully photographed, not commercial and slick.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re as if you were there,\u201d he said, \u201cwhich makes them especially useful for stamps.\u201d<\/p>\n
The USPS plate contains 16 stamps, two of each one representing Route 66 host states. A ninth photo serves as selvage, or the image surrounding the block. It’s the scene of that empty Arizona highway, shot in 2023 near Seligman, Arizona, when Schwartz and his high school friend finally took that trip 35 years in the making.<\/p>\n
But a road is a road, isn’t it? Why can’t a traveler get the same view standing on one of the interstate highways that ultimately bypassed Route 66? <\/p>\n
\u201cYou’d probably get run over,\u201d Schwartz said dryly. <\/p>\n
\u201cInterstates are designed to move traffic quickly. They cut through the sides of mountains, they do not follow the contour of the land …,\u201d he added. \u201cOn Route 66, you\u2019re actually part of the landscape as you move through it. You feel the land as you\u2019re traveling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breeding and Schwartz steered clear of the fabled highway\u2019s most popular spots, not only because those are tougher to get permission to use, but also because they wanted to give people a \u201cfresh look,\u201d Breeding said. The stamps are devoid of people, he said, in part to create a sense of allure rather tourist trap vibes.<\/p>\n
To that end, the blocks capture both the continuing commerce and the roadside relics that hint at their former vibrancy. Take for example the Conoco Tower Station and U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas, a neon-adorned Art Deco beauty whose luminous lights come alive at dusk.<\/p>\n
In Yucca, Arizona, Schwartz photographed the dilapidated \u201cMotel\u201d sign in the relentless noonday sun, revealing desert desolation but also \u201cthe enduring pulse of the open road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among his favorites is the Illinois entry, a friend’s 1929 Model A Ford rumbling down the only remaining section of Route 66 composed of hand-laid brick in Auburn, just south of Springfield. The goal? Create an image that would make viewers feel as if they were there for the birth of Route 66.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to show it to be colorful. We wanted to show the quirkiness. We wanted to show the age,\u201d Breeding said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a sort of show, the idea that Route 66 is a living history of the United States, from the past to the present.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schwartz said he’s amazed that the stamps boasting his work will \u201ctravel all over the United States and end up in people’s mailboxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI hope they really inspire people to get out there and travel the road and support the Mom and Pop businesses and keep Route 66 alive for another 100 years.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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