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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
Endpoints of
1926-1929
North: Hopkinsville, KY
South: Nashville, TN (but never signposted in TN)
To get between Nashville and Hopkinsville today, a driver would most likely use I-24. But before that freeway was built, there were two options between those cities: a western route via Clarksville, and an eastern one via Springfield.
When the US highway system was originally laid out in 1926, AASHO christened the western route US 41, and the east route was to be designated US 241 (as described in this excerpt from their Apr. 1927 route log)...
...and the US route labels on some early maps were based on that description. However, Tennessee never actually signposted the routes that way. Instead, they wanted the two routes to be designated as if they were equally-viable options (i.e. US 41E and US 41W). Eventually AASHO allowed that, and only then did Tennessee begin signposting their US routes (more info on this page).
Hopkinsville
Despite the fact that US 241 was not signed in Tennessee, it seems likely the route was signposted in Kentucky; and if so, this image shows its historic terminus in Hopkinsville. This is looking southeast on 9th Street, which serves as southbound US 41 and eastbound US 68. Originally US 41 continued to the right on Virginia Street, while straight ahead would have been the north beginning of US 241:
Tidwell, Jul. 2017 (linked to original)
US 41 essentially followed what is now US 41 Alternate. But today that route no longer splits from US 41 there; that junction is now about five blocks ahead:
Brooks, Dec. 2004
About a half-mile to the right on Walnut Street is 21st Street, where today's Alt. US 41 rejoins the original routing of US 41.
US 241[i] was shown on maps until 1929. Later its number was recycled and applied to a different highway serving another part of Tennessee (it is now decommissioned as well; more info on the US 241[ii] page). The two routes between Nashville and Hopkinsville were finally numbered as US 41-E and US 41-W. That lasted until the mid-1940s, when the routes were renumbered again, to the way we know them today. Now mainline US 41 traffic is directed along the eastern route (via Springfield), while the western route through Clarksville is numbered as US 41 Alternate.
Research and/or image credits: Robert Brooks; Nathan Edgars; Karin and Martin Karner; Mike Roberson; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa; Sandra Tidwell
Page originally created 2005;last updated Sep. 6, 2025.
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