Camera in hand, David J. Schwartz travels Route 66. Then he does it again. And again. And AGAIN. Over two decades, he makes 42 trips along the celebrated highway. 

And that lands him a big job. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) chooses him to make new postage stamps. The stamps celebrate the Mother Road’s 100th birthday.

Route 66 runs from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California. It covers 2,448 miles! Eight new postage stamps mark significant parts of the road in each state it crosses. (From east to west: Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. You can follow the path on the back of the map poster you received with your September/October 2025 magazine.) The road passes by old-fashioned diners, gas stations, and motels. It offers breathtaking vistas.

Route 66 is paved with history. It opened in 1926. In the route’s early days, people traveled it to escape the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. They shipped supplies along the route during World War II. Later, people used it to explore the United States. To many, the road meant freedom. It meant mobility. 

To Mr. Schwartz, the road means three things: road trips, big cars, and neon signs. “You start here in Illinois on 66 and you’re cruising through prairie land,” he says. “By the time you get out West, you’re in the desert or you’re in mountains through hairpin turns. . . . You get such a beautiful slice of America.”

Mr. Schwartz got the idea for Route 66 stamps as early as a decade ago. He says, “Here is my moment to bring Route 66 to the masses.”

Greg Breeding is a USPS art director for stamp design. He discovered Mr. Schwartz’s photos. They were artistically beautiful—not commercial and slick.

“They’re as if you were there,” he says, “which makes them especially useful for stamps.”

The new USPS stamp collection includes 16 designs. That’s two for each state along Route 66. 

Why? If Route 66 could talk, it would tell many stories about America. New stamps commemorate the country’s past 100 years.