By Oliver Beckwith
In concert with the grand opening celebration of our new Route 66 exhibit, "Engines of Change: How Transportation Moved Monrovia," I was inspired to take a journey into some of the many historical connections Monrovia has with the Mother Road. This month, my focus is on one of the key parts of our new exhibit involving "The Good Roads Movement," one of many reforms that came out of the Progressive Era.
In concert with the grand opening celebration of our new Route 66 exhibit, "Engines of Change: How Transportation Moved Monrovia," I was inspired to take a journey into some of the many historical connections Monrovia has with the Mother Road. This month, my focus is on one of the key parts of our new exhibit involving "The Good Roads Movement," one of many reforms that came out of the Progressive Era.
The Good Roads Movement and Route 66
The Good Roads Movement was one of many reforms that came out of the Progressive Era, which lasted from the 1890s to the 1920s. The initial goal was to improve roads for rural farmers. The Progressive Movement had many parts designed to make life better for all Americans. Among these were political, economic, and social reforms, many of which we still have today.
There were political reforms like women’s suffrage, direct election of Senators, initiatives, referendums, recalls, and primary elections. Economic reforms included trust-busting, income tax, and adding silver to gold for the money supply. This would create more available money for loans to farmers, and higher salaries for industrial workers.
Social reforms included child labor laws, prohibition, which Monrovia embraced, and roads in rural areas to promote a better life for farmers. Good roads would also connect those farmers to urban centers, leading to improved commerce. Route 66 connected Chicago to Los Angeles, and provided economic opportunities for all the rural communities along its path. Like many communities on the highway, Monrovia was a beneficiary of the Good Roads Movement.
The Wizard of Oz and the Progressive Movement
L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900 during the heyday of the Progressive Movement. The book was incredibly successful, and by the time the copyright ended in the 1950s more than 3 million copies had been sold. Millions of people have seen the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz that featured Dorothy’s ruby red slippers. Quotes like, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” “I’ll get you my pretty,” and “Follow the Yellow Brick Road!” have had a long reach into our popular culture.
In the 1939 film, we remember Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. Then there are the Wicked Witches of the East and West, the Good Witch of the North, and the Wizard. Also we see the Winged Monkeys, the Munchkins, the Yellow Brick Road, and Emerald City. However, in Baum’s 1900 book there are some differences. Dorothy is wearing silver slippers and there is a Good Witch of the South.
At the time the book was written nobody made a comparison between the story and the Populist Movement. Baum never mentioned it, but in more recent times some historians, not all, have seen the book as an allegory for the Populist Movement. Thus it would be distantly connected to Route 66.
Here is the theory from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book: Dorothy lives in Kansas, the geographic center of the country, representing the average American. She is caught up in a tornado and lands in Oz. She meets the Munchkins, little people (like most Americans) who are suffering the dual tyranny of the Wicked Witch of the East (Eastern Banking interests who controlled the money supply) and the Wicked Witch of the West (Railroads and Mining interests). Dorothy meets two good witches, North and South, and these two represent Northern and Southern voters who would make the movement happen.
Dorothy is encouraged to “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” to Emerald City. In the book, she is wearing silver shoes, and walking along the path represents the Populist idea of adding silver into the gold economy. Putting these two together will take her to Emerald City, a place where illusion hides reality. The government there is run by the Wizard, who is a fraud. But Dorothy doesn’t know this until she gets there. Remember that Oz is an abbreviation of ounce. The Populists wanted to add 16 ounces of silver for every ounce of gold, enlarging the money supply.
On the road she finds the scarecrow (farmers), the Tin Man (industrial workers), and the Cowardly Lion (Populist politician William Jennings Bryan, who unsuccessfully ran for President in 1896). Together they team up, make it to Emerald City, and find out the truth about the Wizard (political leaders). Glinda the Good Witch of the South guides Dorothy back home to Kansas, where a better life awaits.
Route 66: Yellow Brick Road?
In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was searching for a way back home by following the Yellow Brick Road. In its life span Route 66 was the road of promise for millions of Americans, and like the Yellow Brick Road in Oz, the Mother Road held the promise of new opportunities. Here are some stories about that.
Route 66, Monrovia, and the 1932 Olympics
One of the heavily promoted events in 1932 was to see the Olympics in Los Angeles. Travelers were encouraged to take Route 66 to see the games. Even though it was the height of the Depression the games were a success, netting more than a million dollars in profit.
Knowing that travelers would be passing through Monrovia, an Olympic Beautification committee grew more than 30,000 petunias in Recreation Park and gave them away free to homeowners. One person who planted petunias in town was Yutaro Uyeda. Mr. Uyeda is remembered as Monrovia’s “Strawberry King,” and the Monrovia News-Post reported that Uyeda was “energetically planting petunias for about two blocks about his gardens.” People driving through Monrovia that summer saw flower lined streets!
At the games more than 100,000 people witnessed the opening ceremony, and those lucky enough to see it witnessed a new world record (40.1 seconds) in the 4x100 Meter Relay. One of the runners was Hector Monroe Dyer, grandson of William Newton Monroe. At the time Monrovia was referred to as “Petunia City.”
Dust Bowl Migrants in Monrovia
The Dust Bowl was caused by a series of catastrophic droughts in the mid-1930’s. Many farmers in the Southern Great Plains lost their land and were forced to head out to California on Route 66. California set up checkpoints in the desert designed to turn back indigent Dust Bowl migrants, and in general they were unwelcome locally. Years ago I spoke to an older African American gentleman who sat next to me at the breakfast counter in the Arcadia Denny’s. As we ate our breakfast, he explained to me that he got around the desert checkpoint by waiting until nightfall and hiking several miles around it in the dark.
Sometimes migrants would camp out in an orange grove along the highway. They were not truly welcomed here at the time and most people considered them to be vagrants. One migrant who passed through Monrovia on Route 66 became one of the most influential folk singers of all time. A few years after Woody Guthrie passed through here he wrote “This Land Is Your Land.” People of a certain age used to sing this in their elementary classrooms.
Upton Sinclair
In 1906 Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) published The Jungle, an exposé of the American meat packing industry. A few months later Congress passed the Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, so he was highly respected in the Populist Movement. In 1916 Sinclair moved to California and lived in Pasadena with his wife Mary. He unsuccessfully ran for political office as a Socialist several times and lost. In 1934 he ran for Governor as a Democrat. His plan to end poverty in the state went under the acronym EPIC (End Poverty In California). The plan was so radical that he lost the election to a Republican candidate.
After that he was sometimes harassed at his home in Pasadena and his wife had health issues from the smog there. In 1942 Sinclair took a short trip East on Route 66 and moved into his new home at 464 N. Myrtle Avenue. Monrovia offered Sinclair a quiet life; he converted a garage in the back into a place to write and spent a lot of time there. In that place Sinclair wrote a number of books, including the highly regarded Lanny Budd series, until he departed in 1966. Upton Sinclair passed away two years later.
End of the Road?
Route 66 held out the promise of taking Americans down the road of opportunity and offered the potential for a better life, which is what the Progressive Movement intended. The three stories here do not even begin to scratch the surface of a century of stories related to the Mother Road in Monrovia. We, at the Monrovia Historical Museum, hope to hear from people who have stories to tell about Route 66. After all, there’s no place like home, especially if that home is Monrovia!
If you have a story you would like to share about Route 66 and Monrovia, feel free to share it in the comment section below. We wish to record these memories so future generations can access them.
Special acknowledgment goes to the following individuals and sources for providing information and inspiration in writing this article (links provided for reference):
The Good Roads Movement was one of many reforms that came out of the Progressive Era, which lasted from the 1890s to the 1920s. The initial goal was to improve roads for rural farmers. The Progressive Movement had many parts designed to make life better for all Americans. Among these were political, economic, and social reforms, many of which we still have today.
There were political reforms like women’s suffrage, direct election of Senators, initiatives, referendums, recalls, and primary elections. Economic reforms included trust-busting, income tax, and adding silver to gold for the money supply. This would create more available money for loans to farmers, and higher salaries for industrial workers.
Social reforms included child labor laws, prohibition, which Monrovia embraced, and roads in rural areas to promote a better life for farmers. Good roads would also connect those farmers to urban centers, leading to improved commerce. Route 66 connected Chicago to Los Angeles, and provided economic opportunities for all the rural communities along its path. Like many communities on the highway, Monrovia was a beneficiary of the Good Roads Movement.
The Wizard of Oz and the Progressive Movement
L. Frank Baum published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900 during the heyday of the Progressive Movement. The book was incredibly successful, and by the time the copyright ended in the 1950s more than 3 million copies had been sold. Millions of people have seen the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz that featured Dorothy’s ruby red slippers. Quotes like, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” “I’ll get you my pretty,” and “Follow the Yellow Brick Road!” have had a long reach into our popular culture.
In the 1939 film, we remember Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. Then there are the Wicked Witches of the East and West, the Good Witch of the North, and the Wizard. Also we see the Winged Monkeys, the Munchkins, the Yellow Brick Road, and Emerald City. However, in Baum’s 1900 book there are some differences. Dorothy is wearing silver slippers and there is a Good Witch of the South.
At the time the book was written nobody made a comparison between the story and the Populist Movement. Baum never mentioned it, but in more recent times some historians, not all, have seen the book as an allegory for the Populist Movement. Thus it would be distantly connected to Route 66.
Here is the theory from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz book: Dorothy lives in Kansas, the geographic center of the country, representing the average American. She is caught up in a tornado and lands in Oz. She meets the Munchkins, little people (like most Americans) who are suffering the dual tyranny of the Wicked Witch of the East (Eastern Banking interests who controlled the money supply) and the Wicked Witch of the West (Railroads and Mining interests). Dorothy meets two good witches, North and South, and these two represent Northern and Southern voters who would make the movement happen.
Dorothy is encouraged to “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” to Emerald City. In the book, she is wearing silver shoes, and walking along the path represents the Populist idea of adding silver into the gold economy. Putting these two together will take her to Emerald City, a place where illusion hides reality. The government there is run by the Wizard, who is a fraud. But Dorothy doesn’t know this until she gets there. Remember that Oz is an abbreviation of ounce. The Populists wanted to add 16 ounces of silver for every ounce of gold, enlarging the money supply.
On the road she finds the scarecrow (farmers), the Tin Man (industrial workers), and the Cowardly Lion (Populist politician William Jennings Bryan, who unsuccessfully ran for President in 1896). Together they team up, make it to Emerald City, and find out the truth about the Wizard (political leaders). Glinda the Good Witch of the South guides Dorothy back home to Kansas, where a better life awaits.
Route 66: Yellow Brick Road?
In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy was searching for a way back home by following the Yellow Brick Road. In its life span Route 66 was the road of promise for millions of Americans, and like the Yellow Brick Road in Oz, the Mother Road held the promise of new opportunities. Here are some stories about that.
Route 66, Monrovia, and the 1932 Olympics
One of the heavily promoted events in 1932 was to see the Olympics in Los Angeles. Travelers were encouraged to take Route 66 to see the games. Even though it was the height of the Depression the games were a success, netting more than a million dollars in profit.
Knowing that travelers would be passing through Monrovia, an Olympic Beautification committee grew more than 30,000 petunias in Recreation Park and gave them away free to homeowners. One person who planted petunias in town was Yutaro Uyeda. Mr. Uyeda is remembered as Monrovia’s “Strawberry King,” and the Monrovia News-Post reported that Uyeda was “energetically planting petunias for about two blocks about his gardens.” People driving through Monrovia that summer saw flower lined streets!
At the games more than 100,000 people witnessed the opening ceremony, and those lucky enough to see it witnessed a new world record (40.1 seconds) in the 4x100 Meter Relay. One of the runners was Hector Monroe Dyer, grandson of William Newton Monroe. At the time Monrovia was referred to as “Petunia City.”
Dust Bowl Migrants in Monrovia
The Dust Bowl was caused by a series of catastrophic droughts in the mid-1930’s. Many farmers in the Southern Great Plains lost their land and were forced to head out to California on Route 66. California set up checkpoints in the desert designed to turn back indigent Dust Bowl migrants, and in general they were unwelcome locally. Years ago I spoke to an older African American gentleman who sat next to me at the breakfast counter in the Arcadia Denny’s. As we ate our breakfast, he explained to me that he got around the desert checkpoint by waiting until nightfall and hiking several miles around it in the dark.
Sometimes migrants would camp out in an orange grove along the highway. They were not truly welcomed here at the time and most people considered them to be vagrants. One migrant who passed through Monrovia on Route 66 became one of the most influential folk singers of all time. A few years after Woody Guthrie passed through here he wrote “This Land Is Your Land.” People of a certain age used to sing this in their elementary classrooms.
Upton Sinclair
In 1906 Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) published The Jungle, an exposé of the American meat packing industry. A few months later Congress passed the Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, so he was highly respected in the Populist Movement. In 1916 Sinclair moved to California and lived in Pasadena with his wife Mary. He unsuccessfully ran for political office as a Socialist several times and lost. In 1934 he ran for Governor as a Democrat. His plan to end poverty in the state went under the acronym EPIC (End Poverty In California). The plan was so radical that he lost the election to a Republican candidate.
After that he was sometimes harassed at his home in Pasadena and his wife had health issues from the smog there. In 1942 Sinclair took a short trip East on Route 66 and moved into his new home at 464 N. Myrtle Avenue. Monrovia offered Sinclair a quiet life; he converted a garage in the back into a place to write and spent a lot of time there. In that place Sinclair wrote a number of books, including the highly regarded Lanny Budd series, until he departed in 1966. Upton Sinclair passed away two years later.
End of the Road?
Route 66 held out the promise of taking Americans down the road of opportunity and offered the potential for a better life, which is what the Progressive Movement intended. The three stories here do not even begin to scratch the surface of a century of stories related to the Mother Road in Monrovia. We, at the Monrovia Historical Museum, hope to hear from people who have stories to tell about Route 66. After all, there’s no place like home, especially if that home is Monrovia!
If you have a story you would like to share about Route 66 and Monrovia, feel free to share it in the comment section below. We wish to record these memories so future generations can access them.
Special acknowledgment goes to the following individuals and sources for providing information and inspiration in writing this article (links provided for reference):
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum, L. Frank, 1900. <link to internet archive>
- 1932 L.A. Olympiad, Beautification Project, Monrovia-City of Petunias, Farmer-Earll, Sarah. <link>
- Yutaro Uyeda, Monrovia's Strawberry King, Ling, Susie. <link>
- Who Was Upton Sinclair, Harvis, Mark. <link>
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