U.S. Route 1 (US 1) was one of the major north-south routes of the of the newly created United States Numbered Highway System to be officially authorized by the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on New Year’s Day in 1927. US 1 – also known extensively early on as either Federal Highway No. 1 or National Highway No. 1 — serves the Eastern Seaboard and was initially designated to cover 2,321 miles (3,735.3 kilometers) altogether between Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border and Miami, Florida.
The strong enthusiasm that quite a few people had for the introduction of US 1 at this time was reflected in the city of Waycross, Georgia, nearly a month after BPR authorized the routes for the system that had been approved and recommended by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO).
Waycross was one of the original links for US 1 in Georgia, and one prominent city resident was especially passionate about this highway not just locally but also in its entirety. This resident was Harry Day Reed, judge of the geographically Waycross Superior Court circuit. Judge Reed was also president of the Waycross Motor Club and, on January 28, 1927, he spoke at a meeting of this club about what he saw as the need for professional advocacy of the highway.
In reporting on these remarks, the Florida Times-Union stated that Reed “announced himself as heartily in favor of the employment of a publicity man for the Federal Highway No. 1 between” Maine and Florida. “It would be the duty of this man to travel from place to place, advertising the highway and giving accurate information as to its condition,” the newspaper noted in summarizing the points raised by Reed. The Florida Times-Union also highlighted Reed’s assertion “that the time had come when Federal Highway No. 1 should give more attention and money to this cause.”
While it is not clear whether any such “publicity man” was in fact ever recruited to broadly extol the benefits of US 1, the Office of Information Press Service at USDA did release a press release focusing on this highway on October 9 of that year. The press release included the following promotional, even lyrical, statement: “Connecting semi-tropical Florida with the north-temperate Maine, the road is the principal tourist route from the large eastern cities to the winters resorts of the South and the summer resorts of New England.”
The high level of public interest in US 1 could readily be seen anyway at this time in various events involving portions of the route. An especially noteworthy example of such an event was the opening of the segment of US 1 in the town of South Hill, Virginia, which is near that state’s boundary with North Carolina.
The inaugural festivities for that stretch of US 1were held on November 26, 1927, at the border between those states and in South Hill itself. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on the plans and hopes for the event 10 days before it took place. “Flags of Virginia and North Carolina are embossed in color on the handsome official invitations,” this newspaper confirmed. “The formal opening of the highway will take place at South Hill with an enormous crowd from both States expected to attend the ceremonies.”
Those on hand for what the Virginia-based Roanoke Times called the “opening of this great ribbon of fine highway” were the governors of both states and estimated crowd of at least 10,000 other people. South Hill resident Hiram Wall served as the master of ceremonies. The other public officials in attendance included Henry G. Shirley, Virginia state highway commissioner; and Frank Page, North Carolina state highway commissioner.
Shirley previously served as chief engineer of the Maryland State Roads Commission (the forerunner of the present-day Maryland Department of Transportation). In addition, he helped establish AASHO in 1914 and served as the association’s first president until 1916. Page served as AASHO’s 11th president in 1925-26. Both men were among the featured speakers at the dedication of the section of US 1 in the vicinity of South Hill.
United Press Associations (later renamed United Press International) reported in one of its stories that day, “Virginia and North Carolina clasped hands at the State line today in a formal ceremony marking the completion of the Virginia link in Federal Highway No. 1, stretching from Canada to Southern Florida.” A major part of the festivities involved unlocking and opening gates that had been installed to symbolize what was described as an “imaginary boundary line” between the states.
“With the formal ceremonies here today, Virginia threw open to the motorist a new hard surfaced highway which is by far the shortest route to the South from northern points,” reported Associated Press (AP). “With an increasing number of tourists discovering the beauties of Virginia, officials believe that this new masterpiece of road building will attract an even larger number.” AP further stated, “It is an important link in National Highway No. 1, and leaves only 1 percent of this route yet incomplete from Maine to Florida.”
US 1 was extended further southward in Florida from Miami to Key West in 1938. This highway, which holds the record as the longest north-south road in the Unted States, now encompasses a total of 2,370 miles (3,810 kilometers) between Fort Kent and Key West.
The accompanying photo of US 1 in South Hill was taken in 2017. As this picture indicates, a business loop of US Route 58 is concurrent with US 1 in that section of Virginia.
Photo Credit: Famartin (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Famartin) – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
For more information on the origins of US 1, please check out https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/highwayhistory/us1pr.cfm
Transportation History 
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