Competing Routes to Omaha, ca. 1920

Iowa's primary highway route numbering system replaced markings such as these. Local residents who had grown tired of giving directions made and placed many of the first road signs with no established guidelines. Frequently, associations and community groups designated route names and erected their own markers. Eventually, there were so many different markers that travelers became almost as confused as they were before the signs went up. ca. 1920.

Photo courtesy of the Iowa Department of Transportation