It’s a project 100 years in the making. Or 20. Or five.
Since the fall of 2001 I have been chronicling the endpoints of current highways in Iowa. It’s something that has both reached backwards in time (for older ends of current routes) and radiated in different directions (my school timeline, or all the highway chronologies).
2020 is the 100th anniversary of the numbering of primary roads in Iowa — numbers were painted on utility poles across the state in the middle of July. The system we have today can be traced back to there. A centennial only rolls around once, so I thought I should figure out something special. Now, with resources that have become available only in the past half-decade, I think I have.
This website is going to explore every state route created in 1920. It will have an emphasis on the endpoints, as much as they can be discerned from here, but there will be much more. I will take a larger look at each route, pointing out things that my research has brought to light. I’ll share what I know, and sometimes, what I don’t know.
I’m not going to go in numerical order. I’m going to go in a vague order of importance and “interesting-ness”, starting with the small routes first. This will also give me more time to look into the big ones. Everything I can get my hands on is fair game for inclusion.
It’s going to be a journey of discovery — about highways, first, but also about Iowa and Iowans. Please join me.