Highways
First in the World. Today, we take
for granted the various systems of numbered highways across the country and
around the world. But, as with anything, it all had to start somewhere, and that
somewhere was
In the mid-1910s, the "marked" highways was problem.
Many different people put up signs like the automobile clubs and the tire
companies. Sometimes these routes would veer far from the best path. This
was because some cities paid money to have the road come through their
town. If a road came through their town, they would get more money from
the travelers.
In 1917, the Wisconsin State Legislature passed a law which
stated you had to check with the government to "mark" a road. By 1919,
there was only one such "trail," the Yellowstone Trail, marked within
the state. (Various "auto trails" existed in other parts of the
country through the mid-1920s, however.) Instead of marked auto trails, the
Wisconsin legislature, created a numbered highway system. The State
Highway Commission would make sure this was done properly.
By late 1917, the State Highway Commission mapped out a system
of 5,000 miles of numbered state highways on paper. During one week in May of
1918, all the signs for all those numbered highways were put up.