The 1940s
Getting There

There were very few multi-lane highways in the 1940s,
and most of those were in the East. Cross-country
automobile travel was done on simple two-lane highways.

The old roads are gone, But we'll get there yet. We'll just have to travel By Internet! --Burma-Shave Burma-Shave signs were a roadside fixture from the 1920s to the early 1960s. Burma-Shave Concrete highway winding through the Ozarks	-----	"Give me five dollars worth of Ethyl, please" In the late 1930s, a new kind of gas pump began to appear at service stations. Instead of having round "clock face" dials, these new pumps had rolling numbers that measured both the amount of gas being dispensed and the total cost to the customer. This started a new trend: when drivers pulled into a service station, they began to ask for their gas by dollar amount. Route 66 stretched from Chicago in the east to Los Angeles in the west. Historic Route 66 National Historic Route 66 Federation Photos From Route 66 Shell service station Route 66 Gas station on a lonely country road