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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
US route endpoints in
1927-1961
At various times, the ferry dock at Mackinaw City marked the north end of US 23, US 27, and US 31. The ferry provided a connection across the Straits of Mackinac to US 2, serving Michigan's Upper Peninsula:
c. 1939, Rand McNally
This photo was taken looking south on Huron Avenue, along what was the north beginning of each of those routes:
Voshol, Jul. 2006
Historic accounts describe how -- before the Mackinac Bridge was built -- traffic would be backed up all the way down that street (and for literally miles beyond) as drivers waited to board the car ferries that would transport them over to the Upper Peninsula. Clearly the bridge was needed, but when it opened, the ferries ceased operating, and highway traffic was routed away from Huron. The car at far left is at the historic north end of US 23-27-31. If it were to turn to the viewer's left, the driver would be looking down the road shown here:
Voshol, Jul. 2006
That is the old State Dock, where people would drive their cars onto the ferries that went to St. Ignace, where they could connect with US 2 and other U.P. destinations. (This is now known as the Mackinaw City Pier, and today people park here in order to catch the passenger ferry to Mackinac Island.) Here is another view of the old State Dock, as seen from the nearby railroad docks:
Voshol, Jul. 2006
Driving off the dock, travelers were once greeted with the assembly shown in the old postcard image below, which pointed traffic to the south on Huron:
unknown attribution
When the Bridge was opened to traffic in 1957, and the ferry ceased to be a part of the highway system, MDoT moved the endpoint of US 23 and 31 to the south landing of the Bridge. This photo shows the "Ends" assembly that was once posted there:
Lindsay, Jul. 1963
This more recent photo shows approximately the same location:
Google Maps Street View, Sep. 2019
That was the case until about 1990, when US 23 and 31 were truncated to their current endpoints. US 27, on the other hand, was initially signed across the new bridge, ending at US 2 in St. Ignace. That lasted only until I-75 was signed across the Bridge a couple years later -- at that point US 27 was briefly cut back to Mackinaw, and then in 1962 it was truncated further, to Grayling (where US 127 ends today).
Research and/or image credits: Jim Lindsay; Mike Roberson; Dale Sanderson; Gary Voshol
Page originally created 2006;last updated May 30, 2025.
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