Skip to main content

Was this US 62 Texas shield ever on the road?

In this hobby, you never know when you may find something interesting, and this past week was no different.  Earlier this week, I had traveled to Memphis for work.  Staying downtown, and that it was my first time in the city, I headed to Beale Street and ended up going to the Rum Boogie Cafe for live music and something to eat.  The ribs were very good and the music by Fuzzy Jeffries and the Kings of Memphis was even better.

However there were two old US Highway signs on the stage that caught my attention.  One a US 61 shield - standard.  Also of interest was an old bumper sticker on the US 61 shield that read "4 Lane 61 Now!"  But it was the US 62 Texas shield that caught my eye. It was more unique than the standard US Highway shield and made me wonder if it was a legitimate highway sign or a great design.

I have a closer look at the shield below.

Now, US 62 does go through Texas. However, when you look at the highway sign gallery experts at AARoads, Texas never used that style.  So, that makes it seem likely that it wasn't ever on the road.  However, there's something about the design that is unique and not found that it could certainly have been a test sign or briefly used.  Doing some additional research, I did find another angle of the sign from the Rum Boogie Cafe's website.

(Rum Boogie Cafe)
So what do you think, could this be an authentic US 62 Texas shield? Do you like the style?  Feel free to leave a comment below.


Comments

Stephen Taylor said…
I doubt this was ever on a road anyplace. However, I've driven the length of 62, on two separate trips. OKC to Niagara Falls in 2009, and El Paso to OKC in 2014. Great drive. The road needs to be decommissioned, as it goes no place. but still a great drive.

Popular posts from this blog

Abandoned Fowler Avenue in Clovis, California

Originally Fowler Avenue in the city of Clovis had a brief discontinuation approaching Herndon Avenue.  Fowler Avenue traffic heading northbound was required to detour briefly onto westbound Herndon Avenue.  During 2001 this discontinuation was removed when Fowler Avenue was reconfigured to access the Sierra Freeway (California State Route 168) via an interchange.  This led to a segment of the original alignment of Fowler Avenue just south of Herndon Avenue to be abandoned.  Despite a shopping center opening over part of the original Fowler Avenue alignment in 2016 much of the abandoned roadway remains.   The history of the abandoned original alignment of Fowler Avenue in Clovis The original alignment of California State Route 168 departed downtown Clovis eastbound along Tollhouse Road.  This original alignment did not interact with Fowler Avenue at the Herndon Avenue intersection.  Fowler Avenue north of Tollhouse Road ran north to Herndon Avenue...

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

  Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...