End of US highway 159

View a map showing this route.

1940-1943

North: Horton, KS
South: near Nortonville, KS

1943-1957

North: Craig, MO
South: near Nortonville, KS

1957-1974

North: Craig, MO
South: Nortonville, KS

1974-present

North: near Mound City, MO
South: Nortonville, KS

US 159 was commissioned in 1940, and it is a little surprising that AASHO allowed it, considering that it was only 25 miles long, and entirely in one state. It provided a shortcut between US 59 at Nortonville and US 73 at Horton, without having to go through Atchison:

c. 1940, Rand McNally

At the time US 59's diagonal between Nortonville and Cummings had not yet been built. Instead, traffic went north from Nortonville on today's US 159, and then east on K-116. The opposite direction (west on K-116) was where US 159 began. This image was looking east on US 159/K-116:

Google Maps Street View, July 2013

Today the two routes split there, with K-116 continuing due east to Cummings, while US 159 curves due south, reaching Nortonville in about three miles. That curve probably was not there in the 1940s, so the original junction would have been the 4-way intersection with Hamilton Road (just ahead past the houses). Until about 1957, US 159 ended here. Straight ahead was northbound US 59, while southbound was to the right.

US 159's original northern terminus was at US 73 in Horton. This photo was looking west on 15th Street (northbound US 73 and westbound KS hwy. 20):

Sanderson, Oct. 2002

Originally the north beginning of US 159 was to the left on 1st Avenue East. The assembly visible behind the K-20 sign is shown here:

Sanderson, Oct. 2002

That is a modern perspective of a traveler at the historic north end of US 159 (incidentally, that intersection also marked the north end of US 73's former split route). In 1945, the US 159 designation was extended north with US 73, which remains the situation through today. US 159 is overlapped with US 73 for about 32 miles: north through Hiawatha KS to Falls City NE. There the route heads east, crosses the Missouri River, and enters the state of the same name. But just shy of Fortescue, US 159 formerly went north on what is now MO hwy. 111, and its terminus was at US 59 in Craig:

c. 1956, Gousha

Even after that extension, US 159 was still only 82 miles long, and over one-third of its length was concurrent with US 73. However, US 159 gained a distinction: it is the shortest US route that serves three states. Here we are looking south on US 59:

Google Maps Street View, Aug. 2013

Modern Spur 111 swings out and bypasses town one block to the east. It is unclear when that segment was built, or whether US 159 ever used it. So to the right on Gates Street (the block before Spur 111) may have been the Missouri's original north beginning of US 159. Signage at the next block looks like this:

Sanderson, Oct. 2002

To the right was likely another historic north beginning of US 159. Here we are looking north on Spur 111:

Sanderson, Oct. 2002

The green sign in the middleground is at US 59 (it runs east-west at this point; northbound is to the left). I-29 is in the distance, at the foot of the bluffs in the background. Mainline MO 111 splits off to the left about a half-mile behind the camera; the segment that continues due north from there is designated "Spur 111". Assuming that bypass was built before 1974, that is where US 159 ended.

It was about 1957 when US 59 was rerouted to its current path between Nortonville and Cummings. So the south end of US 159 was extended down former US 59 to a new terminus in Nortonville. At Walnut Street, traffic is directed east, where it ends at its junction with US 59:

Sanderson, Oct. 2002

Morrison, Apr. 2017

That was looking east at the spot where Walnut ends at US 59. The town of Nortonville is about a half-mile behind the camera. This perspective was northbound on US 59, at the south beginning of US 159:

Sanderson, Oct. 2002

Morrison, Apr. 2017

In about 1974 the north end of US 159 was changed to its present configuration: now it continues eastward past Fortescue, meets I-29 at interchange 79, and ends at US 59 about three miles east of there. In other words, US 159 ends about nine miles southeast of Mound City. These photos were looking east at the north end of US 159; US 59 is the crossroad: