Bankhead Highway Through Arlington

THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY, OFTEN REFERRED TO LOCALLY AS THE “DALLAS PIKE” EAST OF CENTER STREET AND THE “FORT WORTH PIKE” WEST OF THAT ROAD, PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN ARLINGTON’S FUTURE BY CONNECTING IT TO DALLAS, FORT WORTH, AND THE REST OF THE U.S. THE PIKE, FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE OLD DALLAS-FORT WORTH ROAD, WAS ACTUALLY IN USE AS A WAGON ROAD LONG BEFORE ARLINGTON WAS PLATTED. THE ROAD, NOW ABRAM STREET, BEING THE BUSIEST STRETCH OF HIGHWAY IN TEXAS, WAS DESIGNATED AS STATE HIGHWAY 1 BY THE TEXAS HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT, WHICH WAS FORMED IN 1917 TO CREATE A STATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM. IN 1920, AS PART OF THE “GOOD ROADS” PROJECT, THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY SYSTEM, NAMED FOR JOHN WILLIS BANKHEAD, WAS DESIGNED AS A PORTION OF THE NEW NATIONAL AUTO TRAIL SYSTEM, RUNNING FROM WASHINGTON, D.C. TO SAN DIEGO. THE ROAD MOSTLY FOLLOWED STATE HIGHWAY 1, AND WOULD BE BUILT ALONG DIVISION STREET IN ARLINGTON. THE CHOSEN SAFER ROUTE WAS ENTIRELY NEW CONSTRUCTION, 25 FEET WIDE AND EIGHT INCHES THICK, COVERING 5.84 MILES FROM THE DALLAS COUNTY LINE TO THE WEST SIDE OF ARLINGTON. BY DESIGN, RAIL CROSSINGS WERE ELIMINATED INCLUDING “DEATH CROSSING” WEST OF TOWN. THE HIGHWAY WAS DECLARED OPEN TO TRAFFIC IN NOV. 1922. OVER TIME, THE HIGHWAY HAS EXPANDED AND SOME OF ITS EARLY FEATURES NO LONGER EXIST INCLUDING JOHNSON CREEK BRIDGE’S DECORATIVE HANDRAIL AND A PEDESTRIAN UNDERPASS AT THE MASONIC HOME. IN 1926, STATE HIGHWAY 1 WAS REDESIGNATED AS U.S. HWY 80 AND AGAIN AS STATE HWY 180 IN 1991. THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY OPENED UP BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES TO MANY SMALLER TOWNS ALONG ITS ROUTE, INCREASED COMMERCE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST TEXAS, STIMULATED AUTOMOBILE TRANSPORTATION, AND INCREASED TOURISM. OVERALL, THE HIGHWAY WAS A MAJOR FACTOR IN TRANSFORMING ARLINGTON FROM A SMALL TOWN TO A THRIVING COMMUNITY.

Bankhead Highway Through Arlington is a historical marker in Arlington, Tarrant County, dedicated in 2011. It is one of 358 historical markers documented in Tarrant County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 501 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.7388, -97.1070 near Arlington. The nearest cataloged historic site is First United Methodist Church of Arlington (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Watson, P.A., Log House, Jopling-Melear Log Cabin, and North Side School.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5507016963. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.