While not as historically significant as the "National Road" (US 40) or "Lincoln Highway" (US 30), U.S. 70 was one of the prominent east-west highways across America, and was known as Broadway of America. In the heart of Dickson, TN, this is all that remains of a mural that depicts the route of Broadway of America through Tennessee, however with East and West switched.
Towns identified along the mural are Bristol, Kingsport, Rogersville, Rutledge, Knoxville, Kingston, Rockwood, Crossville, Sparta, McMinnville, Woodbury, Murfreesboro, Nashville, White Bluff, Burns, Dickson, Tenn City, McEwen, Waverly, Camden, Bruceton, Huntington, Jackson, Brownsville and Memphis. For those of you that are interested in such things, the route shows here follows what is now US 70S instead of US70 from Nashville to Sparta, which is an older configuration. Before it was part of Broadway of America, this route was originally known as the Memphis-to-Bristol Highway or State Route 1. East of Knoxville, US 70 splits off from this route as it heads toward Ashville, NC
I'd love to find more information about this, or see an old picture of it in it's glory days.
This is an amazing find.
ReplyDeleteIt does make me wonder how far back it goes.
ReplyDeleteThe BOA started in 1927 and gained momentum in the 1930s. The typeface looks old and may date to that period. I assume it's bleeding out from a later overcoat of the pinkish paint. This is an important visual/physical link to the BOA. There is nothing else like it along the highway. JWM
ReplyDeleteIt's the kind of thing you find along Route 66 and maybe the National Road but not too often along the other older highways.
ReplyDeleteBy pure coincidence I traveled US-70 from Memphis to Nashville today and was able to check out this mural I'd learned of just a couple of days ago. Thanks for the timely alert.
ReplyDeleteSadly it has faded even more now. I'm trying to make a simple reproduction and even with image manipulation, some of the names are hard to make out so it's good to find this page otherwise I'd be squinting at the map. I'd like to know what the two (at least) illustrations are. I may try and see if there's anything I can find out at the library.
ReplyDeleteNote that the store this is on the side of is now owned by Craig Morgan. I wonder if he could be convinced to restore it.
Good news (perhaps) for anyone interested in this. They *are* restoring it and work has already started as of a few days ago.
ReplyDelete