The Social Side of the Automobile
Auto Gassing Up, ca. 1918-1922
Brick Road Construction, 1918
Eureka Bridge Construction on the Lincoln Highway (2 of 4)
Early Road Sign
Competing Routes to Omaha, ca. 1920
Early State Border Marker U.S. Highway 65
Busy Downtown Streets, Early 1900s
Cars Stuck in Muddy Road, 1924
'Inpassable' Dirt Road
Downtown Forest City, ca. 1925
Early Automobile Sunday Drive
Competing Routes to Omaha, ca. 1920
Time Frame: 1920
Iowa's primary highway route numbering system replaced markings such as these. Local residents who had grown tired of giving directions made and placed many of the first road signs with no established guidelines. Frequently, associations and community groups designated route names and erected their own markers. Eventually, there were so many different markers that travelers became almost as confused as they were before the signs went up. ca. 1920.
Photo courtesy of the Iowa Department of Transportation
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