End of US highway 49 |
1926-1927
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1927-1963
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1963-1978
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1978-1979
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1979-present
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That junction is identified with a large sign marked "The Crossroads" with US 49 and US 61 shields. That intersection has significance to music fans of blues guitarist Robert Johnson. However, he died in 1938, and until that year, this intersection was not the crossroads of US 49 and 61. US 61 was originally routed along 4th Street, so we continue ahead on DeSoto for a few blocks:
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That is the intersection where US 49 ended at US 61, until about 1938. But even that is not the original endpoint of US 49: until perhaps the early 1930s, US 49 traffic used Tallahatchie Street. This interactive image is looking north on Tallahatchie:
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The south end of US 49 has always been in Gulfport, at its junction with US 90. But Beach Boulevard was not built until at least 1940, so originally US 90 stair-stepped its way through town along the grid streets. During that time, US 49 probably ended a block or two north of its current terminus at Beach Boulevard. No "End" sign was posted there -- only the two signs for each direction on US 90:
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That was looking south on 25th Street. That sign tree may have been blown down by Hurricane Katrina in 2005; by 2007 it had been moved from the center median to the gore shown at far right, but it was back in the center median by 2009, and by 2013 this junction had been re-built and re-signed:
Research and/or photo credits: Nathan Edgars; Adam Froehlig; Martin Karner; Jeremy Lance; Chris Lawrence; Robert Mortell; Steven Nelson; Alex Nitzman; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa
Page originally created 1999;
last updated June 24, 2020.
last updated June 24, 2020.