Community Corner

Urban Archeologist: A Drive Before 1945

A look through the rear-view mirror to a time before they had rear-view mirrors.

Written by Greg Van Antwerp and posted by Cassandra Day.

I have always wondered what it must have been like to drive the roads of the early 20th century.

Did tailgaters exist? Which came first — gas powered vehicles or gas stations? It’s hard to believe that people still drive around without seatbelts, but even in 1949 it was still just an option offered by one manufacturer. What was considered distracted driving in the 1920s? I assume that driving itself would have been distracting enough.

From years of digging I have found bits and pieces of America’s early obsession with driving and it’s about time I dusted it off and shared it. One of the first motor vehicle related items I found and possibly the oldest are two torn drivers licenses. They are photo IDs from the same person and though partial, still provide some interesting detail. I didn’t know that early licenses only qualified you to drive a certain brand of car. This DMV document clearly stated that the owner could only drive Fords.

To be fair to other brands, this next piece looks to have been a promotional piece for GM that might have been handed out with a license or license application. Take a look at some of the page scans and you can see that GM wants you to stay safe on the early 1940s roadways, at least in their vehicles. With this pamphlet I found The Drivers Manual, or rules for the State of CT from 1945. The most interesting facts were the posted state speed limit of the (40 mph) and how to use hand signals.

I know that maps are very collectable, so it is rare that I find any before the ‘50s. They are collectable mostly for their rarity and also for their graphic design. I did find this pictured AAA map for Colorado from 1932, which give a bare bones set of routes for the paved and unpaved sections. The map has color-coded sections for the Plains highways and the Rockies roadways, all of which were graveled — talk about hitting the dusty trail.

The last piece is partial notes from a driver education course from the ‘40s. The instructions have you press a starter on the floor and provide a glimpse into how complicated it was to just get moving. If I ever come across a 1942 Nash, I figure I’ll be all set to get it going.  

Do you remember when advertisers were accused of putting subliminal messages in their ads? 

See if you can find the secret image in this ad from 1967.

Greg Van Antwerp is a Brookfield resident and blogger, who can be found on the weekends in search of a good “dig” or a good story. You can read more about his adventures by visiting his blog.


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