This amazing sculpture is commemorates Cyrus Avery, who is credited as being the Father of the Mother road & helped create the national highway system.
Article by the Mayor of Tulsa:
"The “East Meets West” sculpture, built 135 percent of actual size, is 40 feet long, 15 feet wide and 14 feet high. It represents how Route 66 and the bridge are where old met new, east met west, and the past met the future. Tulsa commissioned noted artist Robert Summers to create this monumental work. Summers also designed the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C.
“East Meets West” tells the story of an encounter between the Avery family riding in a vintage 1926 Model T Ford automobile and a horse-drawn wagon coming from the west Tulsa oil fields. The wagon driver has his hands full with both horses rearing up from being startled by the automobile. As the figure representing Cyrus Avery exits his vehicle, standing with one foot on the running board, his wife reaches back for their daughter, Helen, whose son, Robert Berghell, came to Tulsa all the way from Honolulu, Hawaii for the sculpture dedication." Text Source: (
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From the News on 6 Web site:
"The sculpture has been in the works for nearly 10 years.
It's dedicated to Cyrus Avery, who helped create the national highway system, and it's a representation of old Oklahoma and Route 66.
With a crane overhead and all the pieces in one place, being welded into the ground, this larger than life bronze sculpture is in its final phase.
The piece is fittingly named East Meets West. It depicts Cyrus Avery in his Model T, along with his wife, daughter and her pet cat.
The artist, Robert Summers, said the Averys are stopped after pulling up on an unsuspecting oil field waggoneer and his team of horses.
It's a scenario Summers said was common in the late ‘20s.
"And the horses, especially back in that day and period, when they'd never seen an automobile, didn't know how to react when they saw those loud, smelly machines, you know?" Summers said.
Summers, of course, is proud of his masterpiece, but said there's one thing he could have done without: the family cat.
He said creating the cat's reaction to all the noise that would have been going on was difficult.
"Mr. Avery's daughters' cat, Helen, I think her name was, and they said she was inseparable to that cat, so she's got to be there," Summers said. "So, I finally said, ‘Okay.'"
But he made it work and made sure the waggoneer's faithful dog was aware of his feline friend.
"If this works out right, the little dog is over there eyeing that cat in the car," Summer said." Text Source: (
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