In May, 1911, the state government passed the Sproul Road Act which provided the major emphasis for the development of a modern state highway system in Pennsylvania. The Highway Department assigned state roads a number which appeared on internal department maps, but linking the various numbered road segments into continuous routes apparently didn't occur to them. An integrated state route system did not appear until 1925 and was overtaken by the US route system in 1926.

The Federal Aid Road Act signed by President Wilson in 1916 was the first effort by the Federal government to fund road building since the National Road in the 19th century. It was designed to coordinate the building of main roads across state lines much as state road bills, such as the Sproul Road Act, did across county lines.

Henry Ford launched the Model T in 1908, and by 1912 there were almost a million cars on the road. Gulf was the first oil company to distribute free road maps in 1914. Around 1917 saw the beginning of the Auto Trails system of creating routes initiated by Rand McNally.

	1910 THE PENN - JERSEY AUTOMOBILE RED BOOK 1910 VOL. IV, published by W. Nuneviller Company, Philadelphia. This is a 132 page booklet containing maps, ads, and road directions. Pennsylvania is divided into 12 districts with a map for each district and road directions between towns; the same for New Jersey. The title is probably an imitation of 'The Automobile Blue Book'. Later on came 'Green Guides' put out by Clason, and there may have been other colors. The maps are crude, as the Map Image shows, just lines between towns. Note the ad for the Hotel Empire in New York, which is still in business.
	1911 COMPLETE MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA SHOWING PRINCIPAL AUTOMOBILE ROADS ELECTRIC LINES - RAILROADS, engraved and published by the Geographical Publishing Co., Chicago. The map is copyright 1905 but 1910 census data are used in the gazetteer on the verso, so it likely dates circa 1911-15. Major auto routes are crudely shown in broad green bands without road names or route numbers, as shown on the Map Image, and overlaid on an older map (c1905) without roads to make it look up to date. The publisher was struggling to keep up with the times. Electric lines refers to trolly car lines. The 18 x 28 inch map folds into a 7 x 3.5 inch paper folder to which it is attached.
	1912 GOOD ROAD MAP EMBRACING PARTS OF MONTGOMERY – DELAWARE AND CHESTER COUNTIES PENNA., copyright 1912 and published by A. H. Mueller, with a pasted tag saying E. P. Noll & Co. Map Publishers and Mounters, 21 N. Seventh St., Philadelphia, Pa. The map has a linen backing and folds into a 6 X 4 inch paper cover with ‘GOOD ROAD MAP’ printed on top, and written in ink ‘DEL. CHEST. & MONT. CO.’ and stamped in red ink ‘PENNA.’ from E. P. Noll & Co. The map shows major roads in heavy black and secondary roads in double line. Rail lines and towns are also indicated. Only the title area of this 31 x 22 inch map is shown here.
	1913 MENDENHALL'S GUIDE AND ROAD MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA WITH DISTRICT MAPS. Copyright 1913 by C. S. Mendenhall. This is a later version of the map shown for 1905. It is a 28 page booklet with detailed driving instructions between selected cities and small scale maps of Easton-Allentown and Lancaster. A large colored map (39 x 28 inches) is attached to the back cover with main routes hand marked in red. The map has insets of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, Harrisburg, Scranton, and Reading. It is similar to the 1905 map but updated. The stamp on the cover says the map was sold by the Retail Dept. of Rand McNally & Co., New York City.
	1914 SOUTH WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA ROAD MAP, published by Walker Lith. & Pub. Co., Boston; copyright 1914 by the Automobile Club of Pittsburgh, which was founded in 1903 and formed the nucleus for today's West Penn AAA. This is a heavy folded linen cloth which opens out into a large map 50 x 36 inches. The map panels are glued to the cloth with spaces between so folding does not damage the paper. This map would have been expensive to produce and the $2.00 price on the cover was likely for members only. The map depicts western Pennsylvania from Uniontown north to Mercer and from Blairsville west to the Ohio line. There are no route numbers or trail markings. As the Map Image shows, the road network is highly detailed and shown by double line, with 'improved' roads in red. The image depicts the area just west of Pittsburgh with the Ohio River at the right.
	1915 AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF PITTSBURGH STRIP MAPS. This is a set of 13 maps, twelve 9 x 4 inch strip maps, one of which is shown here, and a 22 x 17 inch map copyright A.B.B. CO., that is, the Automobile Blue Book Company. The strip maps open out to 9 x 8 or 9 x 12. The maps predate trail markings and contain written directions for travel. The large A.B.B. map refers to Volume 2 and 3 of the Blue Book for further directions. The maps came in a 9 x 4 inch brown envelope marked ‘ROUTE SHEETS.’
	1916 JOHN WANAMAKER. The map has no title, just copyright 1916 by John Wanamaker. It covers eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and all of New Jersey and Delaware. Wanamakers is, of course, the famous department store in Philadelphia and they wanted to be sure their customers could find Philly. One would think it would be hard to miss. Only a small section of this large 38 x 24 inch map is shown here.
	1917 OFFICIAL AUTOMOBILE BLUE BOOK, VOL. 3 1917, N. J., PENN., MD., DEL., D. C., & W. VA, copyright 1917 by The Automobile Blue Book Publishing Co. This is a 1000 page book (which is actually black) containing maps, route directions, and ads. The Blue Book company began c1901 and covered the US and lower Canada in eleven volumes, Vol. 3 covered Pennsylvania. The route numbers in this book were printed on the first Gulf and Atlantic road maps. In the front of the book is a foldout map (19 x 17.5 inches) covering the states named and showing roads and route numbers. In the Map Image, main roads are shown by dark line with Blue Book route numbers along side. Minor roads are shown with double open line. The bulk of the book consists of detailed route descriptions, with city maps throughout. The last ~100 pages are a set of detailed local road maps on a grid covering the region from New York to Washington including the Philadelphia area. Attached to the back cover is a foldout color map of New England (18 x 15 inches) which is actually an ad. As the imprimatur on the book cover shows, these guides were endorsed by auto clubs, most of which were affiliated with AAA. The AAA guides eventually replaced the Blue Books and their publication ended c1930.
	1918 RAND-MCNALLY OFFICIAL AUTO TRAILS MAP DISTRICT NO. 4, N. E. OHIO, S. E. MICHIGAN, WESTERN NEW YORK, WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. This is a 36 page booklet with city maps, hotel and garage listings, and ads. Both the front and back covers are shown and are quite plain. Attached to the back is a 22 x 28 inch folded uncolored map covering the region described in the title. Main routes are identifed by Trail Markings and secondary roads are shown but unnamed, see the Map Image. Rail lines are also included in case your car breaks down. The map includes western Pennsylvania east to Lewistown and south to Uniontown. These Auto Trails maps began c1917. Rand McNally divided the country into districts instead of issuing state maps; eastern Pennsylvania is part of 'District 7' and the northern counties part of 'District 5'.
	1919 GOODRICH ROAD MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA, published by the Goodrich National Touring Bureau, copyright B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron. There are neither trail markings nor road names on this 24 x 19 inch map. 'Improved' roads are shown in dark line as the Map Image shows, along with a grease stain. Goodrich began publishing route books in 1912 and maps around 1917. Goodrich also set up route markers similar to Rand McNally's Auto Trails markers; one can be seen on the cover of this map.

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Copyright 2000-2008 by Harold Cramer. All rights reserved.
Last revised: December 16, 2007.