NEW ORGANIZATION AIMS TO PROMOTE
HISTORIC US ROUTE 20
BOSTON, MA - October 1, 2012 - A new nonprofit organization is
placing the spotlight on the longest highway in America. The Boston-based Historic US Route 20
Association public charity, with a five member board, was founded by Bryan
Farr, President / Executive Director, after he completed the 3,365 mile cross-country journey on Route 20 from Boston, MA to Newport, OR in 2010. “This is one of the last great
highways that you can still drive in its entirety that has not been lost to
history, cut up, or rerouted to the interstates” says Farr. “Everybody's
so obsessed with Route 66 when they think of American highways, that I kept
thinking to myself, we have the longest intact highway in the country, that
meanders through small town America just as it did in 1926 right here in our
own backyards,” continues Farr “yet Route 20 has always played second fiddle,
and there was nothing out there to preserve and promote its significance and
history as a whole.” This is what the Historic US Route 20 Association was
created to do.
US Route 20 was born
to be a transcontinental highway on November 11, 1926, as the zero in 20 was
meant to indicate, but was cut short of its Atlantic to Pacific route when the
states of Montana, Idaho and Oregon were concerned that their roads through the
mountains could not be maintained in the winter months, limiting year round
travel. Route 20 therefore ended at the eastern entrance to Yellowstone National Park. However by 1940, those states upgraded their
highways and by 1945, US 20 had made its way to just shy of the Pacific Ocean.
Historic
US Route 20 in
Massachusetts can be traced back as a Native American trail used by the first
settlers in Boston who explored westward in 1633. This path would soon
gain the name the Boston Post Road, as finally laid out by Benjamin Franklin in 1737-54
to deliver mail from New York
to Boston. Henry Knox brought fame to the road in the
winter of 1775-76 when he transported and delivered a cannon and artillery from
Ft. Ticonderoga, NY to General Washington in Cambridge. This increase in artillery was eventually set up in
Dorchester Heights and used to force the British regulars to evacuate Boston. The Post Road was renamed the Knox Trail after this event. These
trails over time would meet up with the Jacob’s Ladder
trail in the Berkshires to form the Albany – Boston Road, which became marked as New England Route 5 or the
“Hubway”. A few years prior to the Hubway, In
1912, the transcontinental Yellowstone Auto Trail was assigned to this same
route. These auto trails were designed by businessmen and organizations to
promote travel and road improvements to connect the nation to Yellowstone National Park on one route. The Auto Trail lasted until 1930 when
it fell victim to the Great Depression. US 20
even gained a new name in 1932, when it became the George Washington Memorial Highway, as a tribute to the bicentennial of the birth of Washington. Today most call Route 20 the Post Road or Jacob’s Ladder with the
others almost lost to history. With the completion of the Mass Pike (I-90), US
20 has become the less traveled route.
“Our goal as a
nonprofit organization and public charity is to link the road, Route 20, by
means of preservation and promotion of the sites, towns, buildings, culture and
heritage of those places that lie from Boston to Newport”. Farr knows that this is a huge task, but
hopes that those with a love of history and the highway will join the
organization and form State branch associations reaching the same goals.
“We aim to work with the leaders of the communities and states as well as
with other organizations to place signage on sections of Route 20 designating
them as ‘Historic Routes’. This will allow the traveler to get a glimpse
of Americana, tracing the history and touring the old alignments
of Route 20; in return giving an economic boost to the local economy on their
trip whether it is local, statewide or cross country. Nationwide, the
traveler can experience where the Women’s Rights Movement began, tour several
presidential homes, or explore at least nine National Parks, to name a few,
directly on US 20.
Farr is planning many
more trips along Route 20, promoting the organization, speaking to clubs and
organizations about the history and the present day state of the road and
coordinating events to assist with community development. He also plans on
taking more pictures to be compiled into a travel/photo book that highlights
this Historic route’s amazing past and present beauty to be completed in 2013.
“The interstates are great for fast travel from A to B, but you miss so much
traveling at 70 mph.” concludes Farr. “Take the time, and journey
through history across America’s longest highway!”
About The Historic US Route 20 Association: ______________________________________________________________________
The Historic US Route
20 Association is a nonprofit organization, based in Boston, MA, aimed to preserve the cultural heritage and
importance of, and to promote the economic development of inner cities, small
towns and rural communities along all 3,365 miles and former alignments of US Route 20. For more
information visit www.historicUS20.com; find
us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HistoricUsRoute20
or call 617-733-5796. Memberships available.
Contact Information:
Bryan Farr - President /
Executive Director & Founder
16
Congress St #2
Lynn, MA 01904
(617) 733-5796
email - btfarr@historicus20.com
images for use & press release formats can be found at www.historicUS20.com/media-room.html
File:Press Release #1 Massachusetts Gen Version