by J.J. Lamb of the Vail Preservation Society
Arizona was about to become a state when roadway booster associations across the nation worked to promote cross-country routes. By the early 1920s, booster organizations had named some of these roadways across Arizona. The names often overlapped sections of the same roads. Four roadways–Borderland Route, Dixie Overland Highway, Old Spanish Trail, and Bankhead Highway crossed southern Arizona.
U.S. Route 80 was designated in 1926. It was part of the inaugural uniform system of roadways developed under the secretary of agriculture. Roads had connected farms to markets and had developed regional names that made following a cross country connection confusing. A consistent numbering system eliminated this confusion. U.S. 80 was touted as the very first all-weather coast-to-coast route. The road connected county seats and population centers as its 541 miles snaked across the Arizona’s desert landscape.
The “Broadway of America” came right through downtown Vail. A small section of the original alignment remains intact between the railroad tracks in Vail. From 1927-1931 coast to coast travelers stopped for gasoline and supplies at Schley’s Store at the corner of Highway 80 and Vail Road. In 2018 that is the intersection of Old Vail Road and Colossal Cave Road. Schley’s Store is now the Old Vail Post Office.
96-year-old George Monthan recalls the glass-topped gasoline pump next to the adobe store. And, how, as a proud seven and eight-year-old, he would help his Uncle Paul Schley pump gasoline for travelers passing through. It was his job to pull the long arm back and forth to bring the golden translucent fuel bubbling up into the glass topped pump. His uncle completed the transfer into the gas tank.
George is just old enough to remember when the highway was re-aligned a mile south in 1931. He overheard the adults in his life talking about how the new road would mean that no one would drive the extra mile to buy supplies or gasoline from Schley’s adobe store and post office. In 1935 a new gas station was built at the re-aligned Highway 80 and Vail Road. The new station was operated first by the Dillon, and later the Matthew families. When I10 came through in 1960 that gas station disappeared and coast to coast travelers sped by the town between the tracks.
The transformation that Highway 80 created as it wound its way from San Augustine to San Diego is being recognized. Historians, organizations, local and state governments are working together to bestow official Historic Roadway designation on its remaining remnants. In August 2018, Highway 80 received this important designation in Arizona. Just as Route 66 has revitalized communities across the nation, historic Highway 80 is poised to do the same. Vail has a significant, accessible, still unpaved section of Highway 80s original alignment right in the historic heart of Vail-between the tracks. Highway 80 can be a significant part of Vail’s future if we work together to keep this important section unpaved. It will draw visitors to the town between the tracks to experience an authentic stretch of the Broadway of America, just as travelers are drawn to experience Route 66.
