The Bankhead Highway -- Roscoe TX
N 32° 26.778 W 100° 32.238
14S E 355494 N 3590946
A Bankhead Highway Association sign of history relates the almost-forgotten history of the Bankhead Highway through Texas
Waymark Code: WMTH1B
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/24/2016
Views: 2
This Bankhead Highway Association sign stands in a small pocket park at the corner of Cypress and the Business Route I-20/US84 (formerly the Bankhead highway through Roscoe).
The sign reads as follows:
"A sign (not a state historic marker) commemorating the Bankhead Highway and its route through Texas stands on the SE corner of the Eastland County Courthouse Square, along the old Bankhead Highway. The sign reads as follows:
"THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY
The Bankhead National Highway, from Washington DC to San Diego California, was the nation’s first all-weather coast-to-coast highway. The southern road skirted the western mountains and was largely free from ice and snow, so it could be used reliably year-round. It was names for Alabama Senator John H. Bankhead, author of the Federal Highway Act of 1916, which provided federal aid to states for highway construction.
An “All Texas” route from Texarkana to El Paso was approved when the Bankhead Association met in Mineral Wells in April, 1919. A few branches were also approved. The primary route coincided with Texas Highway No. 1. About 900 miles long, the Texas 1 Bankhead comprised nearly one-third of the total length of the national road.
The Texas Bankhead became part of the route known as the “Broadway of America.” After numbers replaced names on national highways in 1926, the Bankhead route from Texarkana became part of US-67 to Dallas, where it joined US-80. Those federal highways were often realigned, and by the 1960s have way to Interstates 30 and 20 (which merged with I-10 in far West Texas.
Despite the changes, most of the early Bankhead in Texas remains as state and county roads that connect the towns which the interstates by-passed. The Bankhead name lives in public memory, as do miles of Bankhead pavement from the 1920s."
Group that erected the marker: Bankhead Highway Association
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
Cypress at Main
Roscoe, TX
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Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the marker, preferably including yourself or your GPSr in the photo. A very detailed description of your visit may be substituted for a photo. In any case please provide a description of your visit. A description of only "Visited" or "Saw it while on vacation" by anyone other than the person creating the waymark may be deleted by the waymark owner or the category officers.