USPS unveils Route 66 centennial stamps, born from a photographer’s 42
trips
[May 05, 2026]
By JOHN O'CONNOR
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — You're standing in the middle of an empty
highway, staring off into the fading, golden light of Arizona's high
desert. The soundtrack playing in your mind? Depeche Mode.
Industrial-leaning synth-pop strains might seem incongruous with such a
vista, but it was the alternative rock band's homage to Route 66 that
seduced David J. Schwartz. With camera in hand he has made 42 trips over
two decades along the celebrated highway, qualifying himself for the job
of creating postage stamps commemorating the Mother Road's centennial.
The U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday is releasing eight stamps marking
significant parts of the road in each of the states it traverses,
passing by vintage diners, gas stations and motels — many since
preserved or restored — along with breathtaking vistas and wide horizons
of the open road.
Route 66 is paved with history, 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.
‘Road trips, big cars, neon signs’
As 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, “(Get Your Kicks
on) Route 66.” Schwartz's mother nixed his participation, delaying his
first taste of the open road until 2004.
To Schwartz, the road — stretching 2,448 miles (3,940 kilometers) —
represents a significant piece of a newly mobile 20th century America,
from its debut in 1926 to its decommissioning in 1985: “Road trips, big
cars, neon signs.” 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.
“So much to explore. You start here in Illinois on 66 and you’re
cruising through prairie land,” Schwartz said during a recent interview
in Springfield. “By the time you get out west, you're in the desert or
you’re in mountains through hairpin turns. It’s just an incredible
journey and you just get such a beautiful slice of America going through
it.”
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, “Here
is my moment to bring Route 66 to the masses.”
Greg Breeding, a USPS art director for stamp design, was working on a
graphic showing a map of the road when he discovered Schwartz’s photos.
They were beautifully photographed, not commercial and slick.
“They’re as if you were there,” he said, “which makes them especially
useful for stamps.”
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.
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Photographer David J. Schwartz discusses photos he has made while
traveling Route 66 over two decades, during an exhibition opening in
Springfield, Ill., on March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/John O'Connor)
‘Feel the land as you’re traveling'
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?
“You'd probably get run over,” Schwartz said dryly.
“Interstates are designed to move traffic quickly. They cut through the
sides of mountains, they do not follow the contour of the land ...,” he
added. “On Route 66, you’re actually part of the landscape as you move
through it. You feel the land as you’re traveling.”
Breeding and Schwartz steered clear of the fabled highway’s most popular
spots, not only because those are tougher to get permission to use, but
also because they wanted to give people a “fresh look,” Breeding said.
The stamps are devoid of people, he said, in part to create a sense of
allure rather tourist trap vibes.
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.
In Yucca, Arizona, Schwartz photographed the dilapidated “Motel” sign in
the relentless noonday sun, revealing desert desolation but also “the
enduring pulse of the open road.”
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.
“We wanted to show it to be colorful. We wanted to show the quirkiness.
We wanted to show the age,” Breeding said. “It’s like a sort of show,
the idea that Route 66 is a living history of the United States, from
the past to the present.”
Schwartz said he's amazed that the stamps boasting his work will “travel
all over the United States and end up in people's mailboxes.”
He added: “I 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.”
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