Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
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 →
On June 18, 1925, the sixth of the regional meetings of the Joint Board on Interstate Highways was held in Boston for the New England states. The specific location for this gathering was the boardroom of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works in the Massachusetts State House. This building, which was constructed during the 1790s,... Continue Reading →
A major milestone for the portion of U.S. 10 (US 10) in North Dakota took place when the segment of that east-west route between the cities of Fargo and Mapleton in Cass County was fully paved. This paving project brought about the Flickertail State’s first hard-surfaced, all-weather section of US 10, which had been one... 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 →
Only about two years after being built and opened along U.S. Route 66 (US 66) in the settlement of Grants Station (now the city of Grants) in the west-central part of New Mexico, a Standard Oil Company gas station was moved approximately 29 miles (46.7 kilometers) southeast to the community of Thoreau in the state... Continue Reading →
“Highway Leaders Meet Here Today,” announced a headline in the June 8, 1925, edition of the Atlantic Constitution. That Monday gathering in Georgia’s capital city was the fourth regional meeting of the Joint Board on Interstate Highways focusing on potential U.S. Highway Numbered System routes. “The meeting is being held as one of a series... Continue Reading →
In October 1930, ceremonies were held at the boundary between Iowa and Minnesota to commemorate the completion of the paved section of U.S. Route 65 (US 65) crossing both states. US 65 was one of the routes of the United States United States Numbered Highway System to be approved by the American Association of State... Continue Reading →
The third of the 1925 regional meetings of the Joint Board on Interstate Highways was held in a place that had been famously characterized by poet Carl Sanburg (1878-1967) as the City of Big Shoulders. This regional meeting, as with those both past and future, would largely involve having attendees figure out and decide upon... Continue Reading →
It would be an understatement to say that John C. Nicholson (1862-1942), a lawyer residing in the city of Newton, Kansas, was a big fan of highways. A longtime advocate for well-paved, high-quality roads, Nicholson ultimately focused much of his time and enthusiasm on promoting U.S. Route 50 (US 50). As president of the U.S.... Continue Reading →
August 17, 1923 A vertical-lift bridge crossing the Piscataqua River and connecting the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with Badger’s Island in the town of Kittery, Maine, was formally inaugurated. This bridge was dedicated to the memory of American soldiers and sailors who had lost their lives during World War I just a few years... Continue Reading →
