To understand why Springfield matters, you have to go back to the creation of the US Numbered Highway System in the mid-1920s. Federal and state officials were trying to replace a confusing patchwork of named auto trails – routes with grand titles like the Lincoln Highway and the National Old Trails Road – with a standardised national network. The proposed Chicago-to-LA road, which would run through Springfield, was important: it would connect the Midwest to the Southwest and California, linking big cities, farming regions and small-town main streets across the country. Crucially, the new route would be marked with a number, not a name; part of a broader push to make cross-country driving easier to follow.
