Old Highway Maps

[Voyager]

Does anyone have any of those really old oil company highway maps? I used to love looking at those, I have a 1959 atlas of the United States that has only a few Interstates that were proposed. It's really interesting to look at how different the highways were then.

[FLRoads]

My oldest one is a Gulf Oil 1951 Florida road map.  What I like about that map is it shows US 541 in the Tampa area and it also shows the ferry line between Key West and Cuba as well as an inset for Cuba.  I have seen a 1932 Florida map as well showing all the former alignments of some of the US Highways in the state as well as the old Florida state routing numbers (before the current numbered route system).

[Alex]

Does anyone have any of those really old oil company highway maps? I used to love looking at those, I have a 1959 atlas of the United States that has only a few Interstates that were proposed. It's really interesting to look at how different the highways were then.

I have a ton of them here and in storage. Also have a good collection of road atlases going back to 1942...

[agentsteel53]

Alex, what do you have that shows colored shields, either on the map itself (Florida '64), or in the legend (Arizona '63)?

[Alex]

Alex, what do you have that shows colored shields, either on the map itself (Florida '64), or in the legend (Arizona '63)?

I have several Florida maps that show the coloured shields in the map itself. I also have that AZ map around somewhere (might be in storage at Andy's though). Don't have any other maps with colored shield mentionings...

[agentsteel53]

I have several Florida maps that show the coloured shields in the map itself. I also have that AZ map around somewhere (might be in storage at Andy's though). Don't have any other maps with colored shield mentionings...

I'd love to see a Mississippi, because I don't know the colors of all their shields.  Same with Conn and RI, though most of that is known...

[ComputerGuy]

I go to

http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~33772~1171488:Rand-McNally-junior-auto-road-map-W

[Chris]

I do not have really old maps. My oldest is a 1987 Rand McNally atlas. Boy what a difference with todays atlases!

[un1]

I have a 1970 Ontario road map. 

Differences from now and then:
Almost all of the current secondary highways were 800 series, or not even made.
The expressway names were all different.
There is way more highways (in the 1990s Ontario eliminated many of the highways though)
Most of the 400 series highways weren't even made yet.

-un1

[Alex]

If anyone has a 1960 Rand McNally for sale, please let me know. That was the first year that they switched to a four-color atlas. It also has several early Interstate numbering proposals that quickly went by the wayside (Interstate 70 Bypass in Topeka, Interstate 487 in New York City metro, Interstate 59B around Birmingham, etc.) Andy has a copy that I've looked at many times.

[RoadWarrior56]

I have a 1960 Rand McNally atlas.  I bought it off of ebay several years ago.  I remember the I-59B bypass around Birmingham in that atlas.  However, the most interesting interstate routing in that atlas concerns I-64 between Louisville and St. Louis.  I grew up in Evansville,IN, so I am familiar with the route that was actually constructed in the 1970's.  But before it was shifted, I-64 was proposed to take a routing up to 50 miles from its eventual location in both Indiana and Illinois, totally bypassing Evansville.  The 1960 atlas shows that original routing.

That atlas also has some funky routes for parts of I-24 west of Nashville, I-85 northeast of Atlanta, and parts of I-65 and I-75 in Indiana and Georgia, respectively.  If there are particular sections of roadway you are interested in, maybe I can evnetually scan and convert to JPEG and post.  However, if you keep looking on ebay, you eventually may find a copy of this atlas.

I also have a 1958 atlas, and it doesn't even list any interstates in it, although it shows a few sections of roadway that obviously were early interstates.

[agentsteel53]

that 59B is excellent ... wonder if any shields of it survive! 

'58 should have had some I-shields, since they were definitely signed in the field by then.  I believe the first shields went up in '56 on the Kansas Turnpike.  I've seen a photo from '57 of I-35W (or was it I-35E???) being put up in Dallas, and several '58 photos.

[RoadWarrior56]

Unfortunately, I-59B was never signed as such in the field, it was just shown as "Proposed" on maps, like most interstates were in those days.  The road that would soon be known as I-459 was one of the last interstates to be constructed in Alabama, as I recall.  It was mostly built in the 1980's.  I have driven on it, it is a very senic drive, BTW.

I grew up during the 60's, when most interstates were constructed.  I would love to see photos of the old large white signs that were erected in the vicinity of active constructed that showed the interstate shields painted on the signs, along with the construction costs, federal aid information, etc.  There signs were like "Coming Soon" trailers at the movies.

[RoadWarrior56]

One more point on the subject of old interstate alignments shown on old maps.  Some of these abandoned alignments apparently spawned short sections of "orphaned" interstates or more accurately short sections of isolated limited access highways that were often physically unconnected to the original interstates.

I am too young to know for sure if all of these roads fit that category or why they came to be, but if you compare the 1960 atlas, for example, to modern maps, you will see that there are several of these sections of roadways that more or less fit the old interstate routings.  There is about a 10-15 mile section of US 50 between Vincinnes, IN and Lawrenceville, IL that is a freeway and basically matched the original alignment of I-64, which was constructed 35+ miles further south.  I suspect it was constructed as a "consolation prize" to these communities when they lost the mainline interstate alignment.

US 41 has a short limited access section of the Griffin Bypass in Georgia that appears to match an early routing of I-75, which is located 15 miles further east.  Finally, I-985 in its entirety matches an early proposed alignment of I-85, which went near Gainesville, Georgia.

I was wondering if anybody reading this forum is old enough to know the backstories of any of these isolated freeway sections, as well as knowing about any others around the country.

[Alex]

I am too young to know for sure if all of these roads fit that category or why they came to be, but if you compare the 1960 atlas, for example, to modern maps, you will see that there are several of these sections of roadways that more or less fit the old interstate routings.  There is about a 10-15 mile section of US 50 between Vincinnes, IN and Lawrenceville, IL that is a freeway and basically matched the original alignment of I-64, which was constructed 35+ miles further south.  I suspect it was constructed as a "consolation prize" to these communities when they lost the mainline interstate alignment.

Actually they started building Interstate 64 on that alignment, which is why U.S. 50 has the four-lane section to this day. Don't know why they shifted it south, but it killed U.S. 460 in the process.

Interstate 91's path in Vermont should show up near Danville in that 1960 atlas. They later moved it to St. Johnsberry on its present alignment. There are several other things like that from that era.

My road atlas collection includes:
'42, 55, 56, 59, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 70, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, and everyone from '81 onward (except for '92 which i lost).

[deathtopumpkins]

but it killed U.S. 460 in the process.

Heh, 460's alive and kicking here!  In fact VDOT's currently widening it to 6 lanes and a shared left turn lane now due to congestion between Norfolk and Richmond.

And I, unfortunately, do not have any atlases any older than 10 years or so.. 

[John]

Oldest I have is a map of Walnut Creek, CA and vacinity from 1985.

[ctsignguy]

I have a Rand McNally Atlas from 1954...the zenith of the US System just before we started going gonzo on Interstate highways...my oldest map is a 1927 map of Ohio that also displays many early State route markers from the Eastern and Midwest States in use then....and a Esso map of New England that is old enough to have I-86 on the Wilbur Cross Pkway headed from Hartford to Boston!

as to odd misplaced spurs, the only ones i know of were in Connecticut...a proposed I-84 that was to run from Hartford to Providence,,,but all kinds of opposition formed, so that road was cancelled in 1982-83, I-84 relocated to I-86 which was abolished (only to be revived for NY 17 in New York) and the two stretches that were built became I-384 around Manchester....and US 6 bypassing Willimantic

[Alex]

My oldest road map is a 1912 map of Vermont. It includes directions from town to town that uses landmarks in addition to road names as there were no numbered routes at the time.

[RoadWarrior56]

A reply to the I-64 question about why they moved the alignment.  I presume they moved it to be closer to Evansville.  As I recall, one of the original goals of the interstate system was to connect cities of 100,000 population or greater.  Evansville was the third or fourth largest city in the state of Indiana, and much larger than Vincennes, so by moving it closer to Evansville, it better served that city and met one of the purposes of the system.  Without I-64, Evansville would had been totally cut off from the interstate system.   Plus I imagine city officials and local respresentatives used that argument to get it moved.  Also, the revised route was a bit shorter.

P.S.- US 460 was decommissioned from somewhere west of Frankfort, KY all the way to St. Louis back in October or November of 1976, barely a month after I-64 was completed.  I remember when they changed all the signs around Evansville.  One day they were there, the next day they were gone.

[US71]

I do not have really old maps. My oldest is a 1987 Rand McNally atlas. Boy what a difference with todays atlases!

Oldest I have is a 1925 (?) Rand McNally Auto Trails guide.  I also have a 1926 Missouri that shows US 60 between St Louis and Joplin. I'm trying to collect all Arkansas & Missouri officials, plus a lot of pre-60's Illinois. I also have a bunch of old Oklahoma maps on CD. 

[Voyager]

The strange thing about the California ones is in the Bay Area, Highway 37 used to be 48, and 121 used to continue on instead of 128, and 37 went all the way to Napa, which is entirely different than it is now. Also how 50 used to go all the way to San Francisco along 580's current route.

[agentsteel53]

what kind of old California maps do you have?  There are a bunch of old highways whose routing - or even existence! - I am not sure of... the occasionally demented cahighways.org site shows a bunch of gaps, as can be seen on this page:

http://www.cahighways.org/pre-inst.html

hell, to this day, he's got 83 labeled as "not an original 1934 signed route"; never mind the fact that I sent him a photo of my 1933-vintage Bear 83 shield, and what did he do, he promptly put the image on his site without credit...

http://www.cahighways.org/081-088.html#083

why yes, that is my oven, thanks for asking. 

it would be really excellent to get more information on the routings of all the bear highways.  What years do you have CA state maps from that are detailed enough to show all the state routes?

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Oldest map I have would be an 1890s railroad & interurban map of Ohio.
I have an 1898 Rand McNally map of Cincinnati hiding somewhere.
Just picked up a 1926 Rand McNally road/rail map of Mississippi for Christmas (it shows the old highway trails system, but not the federal highway system)

[PAHighways]

The oldest ones I have are Gulf maps of Pennsylvania from the 1910s.