The Old National Road

US 40

Here you can find the results of almost a decade exploring the National Road, now called US 40. From Wheeling, West Virginia, to East St. Louis, Illinois – US 40 covers nominally 560 miles. My travels are arranged going from East to West, and arranged by state or part of a state.

This project started in 2014, with the last photographs taken in August 2021. As of August 2022, I still have to research and write about the stretch from Indianapolis to East St. Louis. Finishing that may take a while and in the interim I decided to make the highlights available on this website.

All color photographs were taken by myself. Unfortunately, it was not realistic to wait for optimal sunny conditions every time I went on another photographic journey, so not all photographs are of the same quality. I tried as much as possible to enhance and adjust lighting using Photoshop where necessary, but given the sheer number of photographs, I did not try to optimize each photo. To me, it was more important to document my explorations than to produce a coffee-table photo book.

All postcards are from my personal collection – seven binders full – amassed by browsing eBay during the early years of my explorations. I did not aim for a complete collection, and also stuck to postcards that were $10 or less – this in contrast to my Indian Lake postcard collection featured on another site.

The Historic American Buildings Survey and the National Register of Historic Places have been invaluable in providing historical descriptions of buildings, as well as providing old photographs to compare with current conditions. Both are used extensively in the following pages. Additionally, I quote from newspaper articles, other websites, and historical books. Appropriate references are given at the bottom of each page. Together with my obsession for completeness this makes these travelogues perhaps a bit lengthy – so be it.

At this point I am reworking the pages – come back at a later time!

  • Wheeling to East St. Louis
  • West Virginia
  • East Ohio
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