Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
About three-and-a-half months after their first full meeting was held in Washington, D.C., members of the Joint Board on Interstate Highways reconvened in the nation’s capital to assess and address the next crucial steps for shaping a coast-to-coast uniform highway system. This gathering of federal and state highway officials took place at the office of... Continue Reading →
The formal efforts to develop what became the U.S. Numbered Highway System began at the annual 1924 meeting of the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) in San Francisco. It was at this venue that the association approved a resolution called on the U.S. secretary of Agriculture (USDA was the “umbrella” department for the... Continue Reading →
In the years since it became one of the original routes of the U.S. Numbered Highway System, U.S. Route 66 (US 66) has left an enduring and unrivaled cultural imprint. Journalist and historian Michael Wallis (born in 1945) summarized this legacy in his 1990 best-selling book Route 66: The Mother Road. “Route 66,” Wallis noted... Continue Reading →
A week after the fourth regional meeting of the Joint Board on Interstate Highways had taken place in Atlanta, the fifth of these meetings -- likewise focused on potential U.S. Highway Numbered System routes -- was held in New York City on June 15, 1925. The previous day’s edition of the New York Times reported,... Continue Reading →
Less than two weeks after the first regional meeting focused on potential U.S. Highway Numbered System routes was held in San Francisco, the second of these meetings took place in a major midwestern hub located on the western edge of Missouri. A few days before this gathering in what is now Missouri’s largest city, the... Continue Reading →
In central Illinois, operations began for the Standard Oil Gasoline Station in the southwest part of the village of Odell. This station is located along US Route 66 (US 66) – known far and wide today as simply Route 66 – and it was constructed by Irish-born building contractor Patrick O’Donnell to serve people driving... Continue Reading →
In April 1925, the first full-fledged meeting of the Joint Board on Interstate Highways took place at the headquarters of the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) in Washington, D.C. This board, which was chaired by BPR’s chief Thomas H. MacDonald (1881-1957), had been established just a few weeks earlier to work on devising what... Continue Reading →
In April 1925, the first full-fledged meeting of the Joint Board on Interstate Highways was held at the headquarters of the U.S Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) in Washington, D.C. This two-day meeting took place just a few weeks after the board was formally established to work on developing what ultimately became the U.S. Numbered... Continue Reading →
June 29, 1956 President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) ushered in the Era of the Interstate System by signing into law the landmark Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. At the time, he was at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, recuperating from major intestinal surgery that had been performed 20 days earlier. To say that June... Continue Reading →
April 15, 1924 The Rand McNally Auto Chum, a highways map guide for car travel throughout the United States, was published. This guide was the first edition of what ultimately became the best-selling Rand McNally Road Atlas. The Auto Chum came out at a time when cars were increasingly embraced and used nationwide, and highways to accommodate... Continue Reading →
