6-733: The George Washington Memorial Highway , sometimes called the George Washington Highway or the George Washington Bicentennial Highway , is an auto trail in Massachusetts that commemorates the route taken by George Washington when he traveled through the state. The highway apparently stems from a 1913 proposal from the Sons of the American Revolution for a route through the 13 original colonies, to be named
12-642: The Continental Army , and later in the fall of 1789 after he became president. Although the Connecticut portion of that highway apparently did not materialize, the Massachusetts segment did. As reported in the Worcester Telegram , the highway was marked with 22 plaques along the route between Agawam and Cambridge . Some number of these markers still exist. Auto trail The system of auto trails
18-862: The George Washington Highway. It was revived in the United States Senate with Senate Bill 4204, by Charles W. Waterman of Colorado, in March 1932, as documented in the Congressional Record , and proposed in the United States House of Representatives by Congressman William R. Eaton of Colorado in H.R. 9596, who called from the creation of the George Washington Bicentennial Highway as a transcontinental highway, running from Boston through Washington, D.C., and across
24-504: The Lincoln Highway Association, were well-known and well-organized, while others were the work of fly-by-night promoters, to the point that anyone with enough paint and the will to do so could set up a trail. Trails were not usually linked to road improvements, although counties and states often prioritized road improvements because they were on trails. In the mid-to-late 1920s, the auto trails were essentially replaced with
30-457: The nation to San Francisco. It would run along existing roads, much like the earlier Lincoln Highway . In hearings, however, this proposal was rejected as being too confusing and too costly. Nonetheless, as documented in these hearings, the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts had already agreed to establish the George Washington Highway from New York City to Boston. It followed the route that Washington traveled twice: when taking command of
36-521: Was an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. Marked with colored bands on utility poles , the trails were intended to help travellers in the early days of the automobile . Auto trails were usually marked and sometimes maintained by organizations of private individuals. Some, such as the Lincoln Highway , maintained by
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