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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
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Murfreesboro
The first US 241 was included among the original 1926 routes, but it was never signposted as such in Tennessee, and it is unclear whether it was posted in Kentucky (more info on this page). The "real" US 241 was commissioned in 1930: it connected to its parent (US 41) at Murfreesboro, and ran southward to Dothan:
c. 1938, TN DoT
During the timeframe when US 241 ended in Murfreesboro, Broad Street had not yet been built (although it was under construction at the time this map was made, in about 1950). So northbound US 41 came in on Maney Avenue, joined westbound US 70S by heading west on Main Street, then north on Spring Street for one block, then west again on College Street:
c. 1950, USGS
This next photo was taken in 1953, which is interesting, because that was the year that the DOTs from Tennessee and Alabama petitioned AASHO to replace the US 241 designation with US 431. So that may be the reason the Chamber was taking photos of these signposts. Here the view was to the west on Main. US 41-70S continued by turning north on Spring. But to the south on Spring was the north beginning of US 241:
c. 1953, Chamber of Commerce photo
After one block, US 241 traffic jogged west on Vine Street, then south again on Church Street (which today carries US 231 traffic south from Broad).
Straight ahead on Main is the courthouse square; it was not visible in that historic photo, but here is a more recent photo looking the same direction (west on Main):
Robbins, Mar. 2010 (linked to source)
To the left on Spring was the north beginning of US 241.
This next photo was probably taken on the same day in 1953; the view was to the north on Spring, from the perspective of a driver at the north end of US 241:
c. 1953, Chamber of Commerce photo
By the time Broad was built, there were no longer any US routes that still terminated in Murfreesboro. US 231 was created in Aug. 1952, and since it ran along US 241 between Murfreesboro and Huntsville, US 241 was truncated to Huntsville from then until it was completely decommissioned in Nov. 1953 (this article contains more info).
Research and/or image credits: Nathan Edgars; Lew Robbins; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa
Page originally created 2005;last updated Sep. 06, 2025.
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