Vintage Road Signs in Rural Nebraska
Traveling through the vast expanse of rural Nebraska can be an adventure in itself, with rolling hills, scenic byways, and quaint towns serving as a picturesque backdrop for long journeys. For food and drink enthusiasts, the scenery is complemented by the opportunity to sample local fare and homemade delicacies at roadside diners and farm-to-table eateries. While navigating the rural roads, travelers might notice a distinctive characteristic – the vintage road signs that dot the landscape, adding an architectural layer to the overall scenery. Emblazoned on cast-iron posts and weathered to perfection, these relics stand as testaments to the region's history and an earlier era of road travel.
A leisurely drive down Highway 77, connecting Lincoln to Nebraska City, offers ample opportunity to spot vintage signs along the route. Discreetly nestled among modern directional signs and guardrails, the faded markers announce roadside attractions and long-closed establishments, casting a nostalgic glance at Nebraska's storied past. Old-timers will nostalgically recall the iconic white-blue arrow symbolizing US16 (e.g., its signs in the Yutan vicinity, north of Omaha), which survived unrelentingly despite numerous realignments along the Lincoln-Grand Island route. At a far more personal level, numerous travelers fondly reminisce about 1950s-era roadside establishments like Dick's Drive-In, formally located near the road intersection known as Bennet, on SE-21 and O Street.
Most noticeable along routes like Interstate 80 are the authentic markers identifying US roads using only initials, a trend gradually decreasing from the post-war period onward. A case in point lies in, originally erected 'Nebr8' sign located approximately nine miles north of Aurora, US6 remains present in more unadulterated forms with better kept, newer signposts standing along non-rural road stretches. Two-lane US138 with a more historic significance boasts, now discontinued brown-squared early signage layout still observable along some stretches close to Shelton, a road development of the National Old Trails Association conceived as a conduit along Platte-Buffalo regional divides and intercities.
At a local level, numerous county and regional roads of post-automotive times possess their own stories as they intersect the state trunk systems of older state authorities or the US system further west. A great many were erected in response to the more historical primary Nebraska grid roads created since the model of an 1888 State Board proposal. One such stretch is old Highway 2 West coming out of Lincoln's North Second/Bee-line northward turning near the 1891 'Cornhusker Road' of Highway 6, joining together in response to railheads built for purposes of rapid agricultural deliveries of goods.
Old and non-cohesive signage still holds value on UPRR secondary delivery track extensions to an unmerged Main street railway track servicing non-major mainline delivery areas with a smaller farm-focused segment near towns such as Tekamah. While certainly time is working against much of these early state or nearby nationally-savvy highway relics of Nebraska roads system, this, having brought road expansions and town building alongside the old trails of national US number growth eventually, showcases individualized evidence having escaped the influence of advancing concrete structures at higher maintenance needs while retaining history now displayed strongly.
These vintage Nebraska signs become another visual aspect intermingling their stories of meals, memories and early roadside cafes foodie travelers eagerly partake while indulging culinary Nebraska amidst all that they're told exist prior to being here and of what things went further than some of modern fast food culture to regional food chain networks set out due to increasing transportation through an era well before chain restaurant networks and 'US-thruway.'
Along the way today with this particularity lies post US standard replacement changes. Now, too can the modern gourmet even use roadside examples situated at any town entrance within less than ten feet from U71-US75 cross.
The current example could indeed be the present western stretch state non-road access intersection signs.
A leisurely drive down Highway 77, connecting Lincoln to Nebraska City, offers ample opportunity to spot vintage signs along the route. Discreetly nestled among modern directional signs and guardrails, the faded markers announce roadside attractions and long-closed establishments, casting a nostalgic glance at Nebraska's storied past. Old-timers will nostalgically recall the iconic white-blue arrow symbolizing US16 (e.g., its signs in the Yutan vicinity, north of Omaha), which survived unrelentingly despite numerous realignments along the Lincoln-Grand Island route. At a far more personal level, numerous travelers fondly reminisce about 1950s-era roadside establishments like Dick's Drive-In, formally located near the road intersection known as Bennet, on SE-21 and O Street.
Most noticeable along routes like Interstate 80 are the authentic markers identifying US roads using only initials, a trend gradually decreasing from the post-war period onward. A case in point lies in, originally erected 'Nebr8' sign located approximately nine miles north of Aurora, US6 remains present in more unadulterated forms with better kept, newer signposts standing along non-rural road stretches. Two-lane US138 with a more historic significance boasts, now discontinued brown-squared early signage layout still observable along some stretches close to Shelton, a road development of the National Old Trails Association conceived as a conduit along Platte-Buffalo regional divides and intercities.
At a local level, numerous county and regional roads of post-automotive times possess their own stories as they intersect the state trunk systems of older state authorities or the US system further west. A great many were erected in response to the more historical primary Nebraska grid roads created since the model of an 1888 State Board proposal. One such stretch is old Highway 2 West coming out of Lincoln's North Second/Bee-line northward turning near the 1891 'Cornhusker Road' of Highway 6, joining together in response to railheads built for purposes of rapid agricultural deliveries of goods.
Old and non-cohesive signage still holds value on UPRR secondary delivery track extensions to an unmerged Main street railway track servicing non-major mainline delivery areas with a smaller farm-focused segment near towns such as Tekamah. While certainly time is working against much of these early state or nearby nationally-savvy highway relics of Nebraska roads system, this, having brought road expansions and town building alongside the old trails of national US number growth eventually, showcases individualized evidence having escaped the influence of advancing concrete structures at higher maintenance needs while retaining history now displayed strongly.
These vintage Nebraska signs become another visual aspect intermingling their stories of meals, memories and early roadside cafes foodie travelers eagerly partake while indulging culinary Nebraska amidst all that they're told exist prior to being here and of what things went further than some of modern fast food culture to regional food chain networks set out due to increasing transportation through an era well before chain restaurant networks and 'US-thruway.'
Along the way today with this particularity lies post US standard replacement changes. Now, too can the modern gourmet even use roadside examples situated at any town entrance within less than ten feet from U71-US75 cross.
The current example could indeed be the present western stretch state non-road access intersection signs.
