Old Highway 19 around Hattiesburg

[49eagle]

I just recently found out that Elks lake road south of Hattiesburg also is known as old highway 19. I know there's a current highway 19 that runs from the state line close to Meridian up to Lexington and it's been there since at least the 1930's. Does anyone know the route of the old highway 19 close to Hattiesburg and what years it would have been in existence?

[NE2]

http://mdot.ms.gov/documents/planning/index.php?dir=Maps/State%20Highway%20Maps%20Archive

[49eagle]

Unfortunately, it's not listed on any of these but the current highway 19 is.  So I wonder if maybe the old highway 19 predates these maps.

[NE2]

What's your source for it being old MS 19? It was at one time US 49W.

[49eagle]

I've heard locals say it, and back then I thought that they were mistakenly calling it that instead of 49. I even saw a reference on one of these forums. https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=4050.msg88739#msg88739  I did a Google search and found this. http://us.geoview.info/old_hwy_19,13581085w and also this  olemiss.edu/depts/sdc/blockmaps2010/maps/tract/DC10CT_C28035.pdf

[NE2]

Do signs call it that? If not, it's possible that it came from a TIGER error.

[49eagle]

I've never seen a sign, but there's a lot of real estate listings with it as old highway 19. I forgot to put the http:// in front of the forrest county map but it has it as old highway 19 as well. I wonder if maybe it was a county highway or maybe replaced by highway 49 when the US highway system was approved. But highway 19 in Meridian was in use by at least 1932. BTW, when did Mississippi start using the numbered highway system?

[NE2]

I've never seen a sign, but there's a lot of real estate listings with it as old highway 19. I forgot to put the http:// in front of the forrest county map but it has it as old highway 19 as well.

All of those appear to come from a single source - the U.S. Census TIGER data.

BTW, when did Mississippi start using the numbered highway system?

About 1929: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=10423.msg253033#msg253033

[Mapmikey]

The 1930 Clasons shows this labeled as MS 17.

Mike

[froggie]

I doubt that, especially if it was an early 1930 map.  Mississippi did not have a numbered state highway system until late 1930.

[Mapmikey]

Tried to look for clues to when in 1930 the atlas was published...

Census date was 1925.  I tried to see if any of the June 1930 additions to the Virginia Hwy System were shown but most of these additions were really short and difficult to tell if the Clasons was showing them as state highways or not.

An internet search for various 1930 and 1931 maps of Mississippi and Louisiana turned up nothing to look at...

Mike

[NE2]

17 doesn't seem unreasonable as a preliminary number for what would soon become US 49W. 19 is much less reasonable.

[49eagle]

One thing that has struck me as odd is that I've never seen Elks lake rd referred to as old highway 49, even though it obviously was. But Edwards street and the section where you turn off elks lake road are. On an offshoot, they just took down the very old business 49 sign down at the base of Edwards street in the last couple of days.

Also, according to the 1928 MDOT map it was 49w by 1928

[NE2]

Also, according to the 1928 MDOT map it was 49w by 1928

It's an unnumbered state highway. In 1932 it's labeled US 49W.

[Mapmikey]

I doubt that, especially if it was an early 1930 map.  Mississippi did not have a numbered state highway system until late 1930.

A little more evidence:

The 1930 Clasons matches the 1932 MS Official except for these things I noticed:
1. No state route number above 26 is shown
2. US 82 from Greenville to Greenwood is shown as MS 10
3. MS 9 from Ackerman to MS 6 via Pittsboro on the '32 official is shown as MS 15 on the '30 Clasons (direct route north from Ackerman not labeled as a state route).
4. A handful of route numbers less than 26 are not labeled on the Clasons (for example there is no MS 5 shown).
5. MS 17 doesn't show up on any MS Official until 1946

Even if the Clasons map predates the state hwy system by a little bit, it does seem to be mostly accurate...

Mike

[cbalducc]

Did you notice how snaky Mississippi's US highways were in the earliest maps?  It wasn't until the late 1930s under Governor Hugh White that these highways were straightened out and built with concrete.

[golden eagle]

Of all the time I spent in Hattiesburg, I never heard of Elks Lake being called the old Hwy. 19. I had absolutely no clue it even existed.