Route 66 Turns 100 Next Month: Miami's Birthday Stretch, and What Became of the Ribbon Road

The Oklahoma Route 66 Association has circled Wednesday, November 11, 2026, on its calendar as the Route 66 Centennial. Miami is throwing its party on Main Street the day before. The new banners, the Centennial mural at the Gateway Arch and the cake will all be gone by January. The change that will outlast them happened in June, a few miles south of town, when Ottawa County finished rebuilding most of the Ribbon Road.

This November, folks can see the old road and the new one on the same afternoon. Two of those miles are fresh asphalt. One is still the nine-foot ribbon the Model T drove. The town's museum is also running a then-and-now exhibit, and that makes a good way to think about the whole thing.

Two Miles New, One Mile Original

According to KSN/KODE's July 2026 report, the Ribbon Road project cost just under $5 million and had its final inspection with the Department of Transportation at the end of June. The station reported that one mile of the 100-year-old, nine-foot-wide road was left as it was. The other two miles were repaved and given bright Route 66 signage.

Some scale helps. KSN/KODE noted that the old roadway once ran more than 15 miles from Afton to Miami and was taken out of service in 1937. Ottawa County Commissioner Scott Hilton told the station the road was nine feet wide to fit the Model T, and that the historic stretch is now "safe."

The project took years. KSN/KODE reported that people spent three decades asking former Commissioner Russell Earls to save the road, which had crumbled and at times couldn't be driven. When Earls retired, his road foreman Hilton was elected to the seat and took up the work. Earls summed it up for the station:

"People were always wanting me to save the road. I started the project, but Scott carried the ball."

KSN/KODE wrote that after much negotiation, the commissioners settled on new asphalt for two miles and no work on one mile. On June 19, the Route 66 Centennial Caravan drove the Ribbon Road into Miami.

How the Preservation Group Sees It

The Oklahoma Route 66 Association led a "Save the Ribbon Road" campaign, and its account of the finished work is very different from the county's. Its project page lists these changes to the rebuilt section:

• New asphalt in place of the old pavement, and the concrete curbs are gone
• Painted yellow lines, with signs saying the new lane is for turning only
• Wider gravel shoulders, which meant cutting many of the trees along the road

The Association says the original mile was mostly left alone. A few spots lost old pavement where culverts went in. It also says heavy trucks and equipment staged on that stretch during construction and damaged it badly. The group reports that the county has no plans to patch or repair that mile, which is the southwestern-most piece of the road and leads to a granite marker. In the Association's own words, "This was a replacement of a piece of Route 66 that we will never get back."

Both accounts agree on what's actually on the ground. Two miles are paved and signed. One mile still has its original nine-foot width. What they disagree on is whether to call that preserving the road or replacing it. KSN/KODE describes the untouched section, just south of Miami, as a tourist attraction and an "Oklahoma National Historic Landmark." In the centennial year, that one mile is the last of the original ribbon, and nobody has announced any plan to change it again.

The Then-and-Now Show on A Street

That's where the town museum fits in. The Dobson Museum & Home reopened this spring after a complete renovation. Its fall exhibit is called "Centennial on the Mother Road." It shows 50 locations along Route 66 then and now, using newly commissioned photography. The exhibit runs October 6 through December 19 in the rotating gallery on the lower level.

The redesigned museum has eight galleries, and one follows the Shawnee Trail, the Jefferson Highway and Route 66 through the county. Others cover the Dobson family, tribal resettlement and agriculture, mining and industry, Ottawa County's communities, and notable people, including the story of the Coleman Theatre. On the same visit you can walk through the historic Nellie Dobson Home with its original furnishings. The gift shop sells a map of Native American allotments in Ottawa County.

The Dobson is at 110 A Street SW. It's open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and closed on holidays. Admission is free and no ticket is needed. Starting November 3, the museum's Giving Trees go up throughout the building to support organizations across Ottawa County. They stay up through January 16, 2027. Museum Director Jordan Boyd credits the Ottawa County Historical Society for its "continued stewardship" of the place.

The Birthday Calendar, October 30 to November 20

The city set up the centennial year to build toward November. Miami CVB & Tourism Director Trinda Crow said in the city's announcement that it would end with "a big birthday party for citizens on Main Street in November, the month of the origin of Route 66." Here's how the next five weeks line up, from Halloween on Main Street through the last November show at the Coleman.

According to the city, the Sweet Street parade brings out thousands of people in costume to trick-or-treat along Main Street. The student art show puts Route 66 artwork by Miami Public Schools students of every age on display at the Civic Center. The birthday cake does double duty, marking both the road's centennial and the country's 250th. The Holiday Market brings live reindeer, holiday treats and shopping to Main Street.

Dates to Confirm Before You Go

A few of these dates come from just one source. The Sweet Street date and the Rt. 66 Miami Venue location for the cake are both from the city's March 26 announcement. The city posted a Sweet Streets notice on September 17, but its full text wasn't available to us. The Mayor's Christmas Tree Lighting, which the city bills as featuring the tallest live tree on Route 66 in Oklahoma, comes right after this stretch. The city and KOAM list it for December 4 at 6 p.m. The Association's calendar lists December 5 at 6 p.m., which is the same time it gives for the Christmas parade. A quick call to the Miami CVB will clear up both questions.

Making a Day of the Whole Road

From now through Thanksgiving, you can see all three versions of the road in one day. The Dobson's photographs show how the road has changed. Main Street, with its banners and the mural at the Gateway Arch, shows the party. South of town, the Ribbon Road shows what the county chose to keep and what it rebuilt.

The Coleman Theatre at 103 North Main St. is close enough to fit into the same trip. Its tour page lists tours Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tours are by donation, with a $5 minimum per person encouraged. The page asks visitors to call ahead at 918-540-2425, and it still has some leftover limited-gathering language, so that call is worth making. The theatre says its Mighty Wurlitzer was built in 1928 and delivered on February 21, 1929. It's the only 1928-built Wurlitzer still in its original home, and it still plays along with silent films.

If you go out to the Ribbon Road, remember what the Association reports about the new section. The rebuilt lane is signed for turning only. The original mile toward the granite marker took damage during construction and has no repair scheduled. Go slow, watch the signs, and look at the pavement under you. It's the last mile of nine-foot ribbon left on Route 66 in Ottawa County.

Here at American Pride Realty, we spend a lot of time on old roads, fence lines and section corners across Oklahoma, and we know land holds its history in ways a deed never shows. If you own ground along one of Ottawa County's historic routes, or you'd like to talk about what a piece of land has seen over the years, we'd be glad to hear from you. Contact Us.