End of US highway 441 |
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Summa
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Summa
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1926-1935
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1935-1948
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1948-1949
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1949-1952
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1952-1970
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1970-present
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Mileage: this got a little complicated starting in 1970, when the National Park Service decided the US 441 designation no longer exists through Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This page covers the topic in much more detail.
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c. 1927, Rand McNally
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US 441 was an original 1926 highway, but initially it ran only between Orlando and Ocala. It is likely that US 441 originally came into Orlando via Edgewater Drive, and then used Lakeview Street to connect with Orange Avenue (which carried US 92). The two routes probably overlapped down to the courthouse (which was on Central Avenue at the time), where US 441 ended, but US 92 continued down Orange towards Kissimmee.
By the 1930s, US 441 had been rerouted to follow its present alignment to the northwest (Orange Blossom Trail). The earliest detailed map I have seen is 1936 (shortly after US 17 had been extended through Orlando, overlapped with US 92); the clarity was not very good, but it showed the same configuration as this 1939 map: |
c. 1939, FDoT
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US 441 turned off Orange Blossom onto Church Street, ending at US 17-92 (Orange Av). This image shows a modern perspective of that intersection, looking east on Church at the historic south end of US 441:
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Karners, Jan. 2017
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By the 1940s, Orange Blossom Trail was carrying highway traffic south of Orlando (as well as northwest), and Mills Avenue replaced Orange as the corridor for northbound travelers. Robinson Avenue was used to connect Mills and Orange Blossom, so US 441 then ended where US 17-92 made that turn:
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c. 1949, FDoT
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This image is looking north on Orange Blossom; US 17-92 once turned to the right on Robinson, so the south beginning of US 441 was straight ahead:
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Karners, Jan. 2017
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The original north end of US 441 was in Ocala. In 1927, US 41 went through Gainesville and Ocala before heading back west through Dunnellon and Inverness. In Ocala, US 41 came in from the north on Magnolia Street. At Broadway Avenue, US 41 went west, but straight ahead on Magnolia was the north beginning of US 441. This photo was looking the opposite direction (north on Magnolia). Magnolia is one-way southbound now (despite the street sign for Broadway facing northbound traffic). This was the original north end of US 441; straight ahead was northbound US 41, and southbound US 41 was to the left:
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Droz, Dec. 2006
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c. 1939, Rand McNally
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In 1935 US 41 was rerouted along its current path through Newberry and Williston, so the US 441 designation was extended straight ahead (north along what had been US 41) to a new endpoint in High Springs. It ended at its junction with US 41, right in the middle of town (Main Street and N. 1st Avenue). This photo was looking east on 1st Av, or south on US 27-41:
Nitzman, June 2006
US 27 turns right on Main with southbound US 41. Straight ahead was once the north beginning of US 441. That route now follows Santa Fe Boulevard, which joins 1st about six blocks ahead -- hence the "TO US 441" sign in the distance.
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In 1948, US 441 finally crossed a state line, when its north end was extended to Baldwin:
c. 1949, GA DoT
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This photo was taken looking norteast on Willingham Avenue. This was once northbound US 23, and to the right on Stonepile Street was once the north beginning of US 441:
Sanderson, Nov. 2017
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However, that lasted for only about three years, because in 1952 US 441 was extended north again. It followed a 72-mile overlap with US 23 into North Carolina, then through Great Smoky Mountains National Park to a town in Tennessee that was called Lake City at the time, but has since been changed to Rocky Top. That is still the current terminus of US 441[n], but the reason that info is covered on a different page is because in 1970 the National Park Service stopped recognizing US 441 in GSMNP, which had the effect of creating two separate segments of US 441. Here is that item from the minutes of AASHO's Nov. 1970 meeting:
And now, going back to Florida: the 1949 map shown above was the last to indicate an Orlando endpoint for US 441, because that is when that route was extended to its current terminus in Miami. That endpoint is covered on the US 441[s] page.
Research and/or photo credits: Bobby Clark; Justin Cozart; Robert Droz; Nathan Edgars; H.B. Elkins; Andy Field; Karin and Martin Karner; Dan Moraseski; Alex Nitzman; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa
Page originally created 2000;
last updated Feb. 27, 2023.
last updated Feb. 27, 2023.
