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100 years of US routes: 1926-2026
US route endpoint
The highway running along the east side of Glacier National Park has been a US route since the beginning, in 1926. However, back then it was designated as US 87:
c. 1927, Rand McNally
At the time, the US 89 designation went only as far north as Spanish Fork UT. But then in 1935 US 89 was extended northward along its current path: through the rest of Utah, plus Wyoming and Montana (via an implied route through Yellowstone). It met US 87 at Armington MT (southeast of Great Falls), and replaced that route up to its present terminus on the Canada border, at a port of entry called Piegan. US 87 ended at Armington for a few years, but then was extended through Great Falls and up to Havre in the 1940s. This first photo is looking northward at Piegan:
Hamilton, Jul. 2004
Until 1934 that was the north end of US 87. Since then it has been the north end of US 89. Just ahead the road becomes Alberta provincial hwy. 2, and the Canadian port of entry is known as Carway. Here we are looking south at the north beginning:
Hamilton, Jul. 2004
The mountains in the distance are in Glacier National Park; the mileage sign makes reference to Babb, Browning, and Great Falls.
Research and/or image credits: Alan Hamilton; Dale Sanderson
Page originally created 2004;last updated May 11, 2025.
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