This cache placement is part of the Garland History GeoTour. Should you wish to download the GeoTour passport to earn our beautiful GeoCoin, you can find the GeoTour page here. The log will contain a secret word which you must enter on your passport in the appropriate slot.
Be sure to log your "Will Attend" for the kickoff party of Garland GeoTour 2.0!
The Bankhead Highway was America's first all-weather transcontinental highway joining Washington D.C. to San Diego. It also just happens to run right through the middle of Garland. 2016 was the 100th anniversary of John Hollis Bankhead’s Federal Aid Highway Act of 1916. To celebrate this event that changed the way American's lived, the City of Garland spent the year promoting the history of the Bankhead Highway.
In April of 1919, The Dallas Morning News reported that the Bankhead Highway Pathfinders group had traveled 3,500 miles, recommending the Texas route pass through Garland, based in part on the “ability and willingness of people to build and maintain the road, together with such aid as they may be able to obtain from the State and Federal Government.” County taxpayers eventually provided more than 70% of construction funding for the section serving Garland.
The Bankhead Highway was not built from scratch; rather, it was a designated route over existing roadways. Once selected, those roadways enjoyed improvements as part of a national highway. The Bankhead Highway travels through Garland starting on the old bridges in Lake Ray Hubbard that were exposed during the recent drought, running through Downtown Garland on Main Street, and heading out of town via Garland Ave. to Dallas. Street signs marking it as “Bankhead Avenue” remained in place as late as the 1950s.