Akron-Canton, OH Roads Meet

[agentsteel53]

It was in front of a church on OH 172 east of town.  Judging from the style of the "L" and the faded nature of the paint, it is absolutely not any recent effort.  Whether it was repainted in the 50s-60s or left original, that I can't answer.

can you upload a photo real fast?  or email it to me? 

there are definitely some 1928 concrete Lincoln Highway pillars left out there, and there is the state line sign from 1917 between NJ and Penna, so it is not out of the question for an old relic to survive!

[Alps]

As soon as these get off my camera.  Which will likely be tomorrow.

[A.J. Bertin]

I really enjoyed this meet, despite the rainy and chilly weather. My time in the morning with Steve before the meet was great, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to explore downtown Canton a bit. It was nice getting to know everyone, and it worked out very well that there were three legs of the tour and I got to ride in a different car for each leg. (I love doing that at meets because it mixes things up and allows for the opportunity to get to talk to different people.) It was great to meet Marc, Sandor, Gene, Ed, and Shari for the first time and also see Steve, Dan, H.B., and Mike again.

After the meet was over, I left Canton and headed up toward Akron because I wanted to drive along OH-59 again and snap a photo of the Akron skyline. I was taken aback by the fact that there is no direct connection from northbound I-77/westbound I-76 to the OH-59 freeway. I wondered why that was the case. I got off the freeway, drove around downtown Akron a bit, and then hopped back on northbound I-77 toward Cleveland. The sun was out by the time I arrived in the downtown Cleveland area at the northern terminus of I-77. I had a bit of a scary experience, though, when I almost lost control of my car on a curve as I was trying to figure out at the last second which lane I needed to be in to hop on I-90 east. The road was wet and curvy, and because of the glare of the sun it was hard for me to initially figure out which lane I needed until the last minute. My heart was racing for a second but everything was okay.

My original plan was to take OH-2 all the way from Cleveland to Toledo and then up to metro Detroit. I drove on "dead man's curve" on I-90 and then immediately got off at OH-2 west, drove through Lakewood, and eventually made it to the I-90/OH-2 freeway on the other side of the city. I was really debating whether I still wanted to exit I-90 and continue on OH-2 but ultimately decided just to use the Turnpike instead. After all, it was already 8:00 and was starting to get dark. Plus it was rainy, and I knew I probably wouldn't have enjoyed OH-2 all that much in the wet darkness. Besides, I wanted to get to my brother's house in Auburn Hills (northwest of Detroit) as quickly as possible. I knew that my drive would have slowed down quite a bit when the OH-2 freeway turns into a two-lane highway.

All in all, it was a great meet. Thanks to Dan for hosting and to everyone else for attending! 

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

The meet returned to Don Pablo's, where we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.  I headed down the Lincoln Highway to OH 7 NB to stay the night in Youngstown.  Along the way, I found a faded L marker in red white and blue, painted on a telephone pole.  I have reasonable suspicion it's original... !!

I'm more doubtful that the paint job is original If that telephone pole was along US 30 than along one of the older (now county designated) routings of the Lincoln Highway. Mind you the Ohio Lincoln Highway folks have put in much time and effort in marking the Lincoln Highway in the last 10-15 years.

It was in front of a church on OH 172 east of town.  Judging from the style of the "L" and the faded nature of the paint, it is absolutely not any recent effort.  Whether it was repainted in the 50s-60s or left original, that I can't answer.

Oh 172 between Canton and East Canton, or east of East Canton?

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

It was in front of a church on OH 172 east of town.  Judging from the style of the "L" and the faded nature of the paint, it is absolutely not any recent effort.  Whether it was repainted in the 50s-60s or left original, that I can't answer.

can you upload a photo real fast?  or email it to me? 

there are definitely some 1928 concrete Lincoln Highway pillars left out there, and there is the state line sign from 1917 between NJ and Penna, so it is not out of the question for an old relic to survive!

I don't question the concrete posts.  When the National Park Service did an analysis of the Lincoln Hwy, they had the Geography dept. at Univ. of Penn. at Indiana do an invertory of "historical signifcant monuments," including the concrete posts, across the LH from NYC to San Fran.

[Alps]

JUST now getting around to these photos. Couple of questions:
1) Market St. in downtown Canton. Is that original US 21? Because OH 21 now goes well to the west. If not, just what is it?
2) I took a photo of a white Canton Corporation Limit sign a couple of minutes from Exit 109. Is/was that on Main St. entering Canton from the north side? (I think so) That'd be the same old route as #1.
3) Somewhere on my route that morning, east of Canton, I passed on a back road an old Soap Box Derby sign - large, wooden, US-shield shaped, painted red, white, blue, by a steel pony truss bridge. What road was I on?

[agentsteel53]

JUST now getting around to these photos. Couple of questions:
1) Market St. in downtown Canton. Is that original US 21? Because OH 21 now goes well to the west. If not, just what is it?

my 1942 RMN shows US-21 on what appears to be the same alignment as OH-21 is on now.  We have OH-8, OH-43 (both north-south), US-30 (E-W) and US-62 (can't tell - it's heavily NE-SW around the outskirts) passing through the center of town.  The resolution is of course nowhere near enough to pinpoint which street, but my guess is Market St. is likely 43, and possibly 8, but I believe 8 is Main Street.

2) I took a photo of a white Canton Corporation Limit sign a couple of minutes from Exit 109. Is/was that on Main St. entering Canton from the north side? (I think so) That'd be the same old route as #1.

that is likely (again, to within accuracy of this very wide-scale US atlas) OH-8 on my 1942 map.  There was a white sign on Main St. in Feb 2010; likely we refer to the same one.

3) Somewhere on my route that morning, east of Canton, I passed on a back road an old Soap Box Derby sign - large, wooden, US-shield shaped, painted red, white, blue, by a steel pony truss bridge. What road was I on?

no idea.  I'd like to see a photo of that, though.

did you find the 36" I-77 trailblazer?  alas, no state name.  I didn't find any state-named shields during my scouring of I-77 in Feb 2010.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

US 21 never went through Canton, nor Akron for that matter.
http://www.roadfan.com/1931n.jpg
http://www.roadfan.com/1962n.jpg
(Cyan colored line on the 1962 map shows the original US 21 routing)
Oh 8 followed Cleveland Ave. (and Main Street north of the corp line) through Canton. Not sure which route (if any) followed Market St.
Dunno the location of your Soap Box Derby sign. The Soap Box Derby itself is held in Akron, east of the Akron Airport.

http://www.roadfan.com/oldus21.html

[Alps]

Old 8, thanks, that's what I was looking for. The soap box derby sign is on Broadway Ave. south of OH 153 in Fairhope, just past the railroad tracks and before the truss bridge. Google has it. Zoom in from http://maps.google.com/maps?q=waterloo+ave&hl=en&ll=40.822513,-81.295738&spn=0.062743,0.131836&sll=41.039064,-81.506023&sspn=0.007736,0.016479&z=13

[Alps]

And the page is up - www.alpsroads.net/roads/oh/akron