Historical talk on the old Bankhead Highway

Author Dan L. Smith will explore the history of the old Bankhead Highway in program at the Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas in Thurber. 
Smith is the author of Texas Highway No. 1: The Bankhead Highway in Texas. His first encounter with the Bankhead Highway occurred while bicycling on back roads in Parker County near Aledo. One unassuming road in particular caught his attention, but few people knew much about the old lane. The author’s research revealed the historical significance of the unassuming road.

Originally referred to as Kuteman’s Cutoff, the overgrown country lane had once been part of Texas Highway No. 1, which itself was a part of the Bankhead Highway, a cross-country highway that connected Washington, D.C., and San Diego, Calif. It was the nation’s first all-weather transcontinental highway. Travelers in the 1920s and 1930s also knew it as part of the “Broadway of America” and U.S. 80 in Texas. The Bankhead Highway was designated a Texas Historic Highway in 2009.

A Florida native, Smith graduated from Florida State University and worked for 40 years with the National Weather Service. Retired in 2005, he lives with his wife in Fort Worth and now devotes time to subjects of historical interest. His book, he says, adds to the documentation of one of America’s most significant early highways.

The program will be followed by a book signing.