Anonymous
1937

The Meridian Highway Main Street of North America

SOLD

The Meridian Highway: From Farm-to-Market Road to a Modern North-South Corridor

DESCRIPTION: SOLD

Attractive, scarce, lithographed 1937 map of U.S. Highway 81 "The Meridian Highway, the Main Street of North America", Hadley Sumner, Selling Agent. Apparently a promotional insert as the bottom states: "For complete information inquire Chamber of Commerce at address on other side." Insert illustrations of the International Bridge at Laredo, Texas, the Meridian Bridge on the Missouri River as well as commercial exports: wheat, corn, cattle. and a lake.

The Meridian Highway was established in 1911-12 as a major north-south route through the Great Plains from Canada to Mexico, following the land division grid parallel to the sixth principal meridian. Originally known as the Meridian Road, it primarily served as a farm-to-market road, passing through each county seat along the way. The Meridian Highway Association was formed in 1911 to promote and map the highway, consisting of representatives from the states, counties, and cities along the route. The completion of the Meridian Highway Bridge in 1924 at the Missouri River between Yankton, South Dakota, and Nebraska marked a significant evolution of the route into a modern highway. Today, the Meridian Highway is the foundation of one of the busiest and most significant transportation corridors in the nation, crossing over 800 miles of Texas and passing through major cities such as Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, Waco, Austin, San Antonio, and Laredo.

Verso is blank. Executed by Epsten Litho. Co. Omaha.

The illustration and quotation on this trade card were not unique to John Cosgrove but rather part of a stock design widely used by 19th-century printers who specialized in producing humorous or sentimental advertising cards. Lithographers commonly kept catalogs of ready-made comic scenes—like this seaside mother-and-child vignette with the line “It’s a wise child that knows its own mother at the sea side”—which merchants could customize by adding their own business imprint below. In this case, the printer simply inserted Cosgrove’s name, trade description, and Poydras Market address into the blank advertising panel at the bottom, allowing a small New Orleans fish dealer to benefit from professionally printed imagery at a fraction of the cost of commissioning original artwork.

CREATOR: Anonymous

PUBLICATION DATE: 1937

GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United States

BODY OF WATER: Rio Grande River, Missouri River

CONDITION: Excellent. No issues. Clean.

COLORING: Lithographed color.

ENGRAVER:

SIZE: 8 " x 10 "

ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 13

PRICE: $

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