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Map Map of Proposed National Highways of the United States, 1915. National Highways Map of the United States Showing One Hundred Thousand Miles of National Highways: Proposed by the National Highways Association

About this Item

Title

  • Map of Proposed National Highways of the United States, 1915.

Other Title

  • National Highways Map of the United States Showing One Hundred Thousand Miles of National Highways: Proposed by the National Highways Association

Summary

  • The National Highways Association (NHA) was established in 1911 to promote the development of an improved national road network in the United States. Under the slogan "Good roads for everyone!" the NHA proposed a 150,000-mile (241,402-kilometer) network of roads, based on a four-fold system of national, state, county, and town or township highways and roads. This map, issued by the NHA in 1915, shows the tentative routes of the most important highways in this network, totaling 100,000 miles (160,934 kilometers) in length. The table at the top provides estimates of the numbers and percentages of people living in counties traversed by the proposed national highways or counties adjoining them. The map associates the cause of good roads with the "preparedness" debate concerning possible U.S. intervention in World War I that was underway at this time. The map also contrasts the purported benefits of the Panama Canal, opened the previous year, with those of the proposed national road system, claiming (on what basis is unclear): "They cost the same." Besides issuing brochures and circulars aimed at convincing citizens of the need for a national road system, the NHA was a prolific producer of maps. Cartographic work was done at an office in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, where approximately 40 people were employed on the property of Charles Henry Davis (1865--1951), president and cofounder of the NHA. Davis believed that these maps would be helpful to a national highways commission that he hoped would be established and that they would assist the states in integrating their roads into a national system. Congress never embraced the plan put forward by the NHA, but the organization and its maps helped to promote the cause of a national road network.

Names

  • Mulford, John C. Cartographer.
  • National Highways Association Creator.

Created / Published

  • Washington, D.C. : National Highways Association, 1915-11.

Headings

  • -  United States of America
  • -  1915
  • -  Highway planning
  • -  Roads

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  "Scale 1:11,000,000"--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
  • -  Original resource extent: 1 map ; 26 x 43 centimeters.
  • -  Original resource at: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries.
  • -  Content in English.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Source Collection

  • American Geographical Society Library Digital Map Collection

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021668527

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Mulford, John C. Cartographer, and National Highways Association Creator. Map of Proposed National Highways of the United States. Washington, D.C.: National Highways Association, -11, 1915. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668527/.

APA citation style:

Mulford, J. C. C. & National Highways Association Creator. (1915) Map of Proposed National Highways of the United States. Washington, D.C.: National Highways Association, -11. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668527/.

MLA citation style:

Mulford, John C. Cartographer, and National Highways Association Creator. Map of Proposed National Highways of the United States. Washington, D.C.: National Highways Association, -11, 1915. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021668527/>.