Roadside America

As the automobile remade the country, the billboard rose along the highways — standardized boards, Burma-Shave's roadside poems, Route 66 and the fight over the American roadside.

Part of Billboards

5 moments in this segment.

1. 2005 — See Rock City. Painted on hundreds of barn roofs from the 1930s, 'See Rock City' became one of the most famous roadside campaigns. The subject dates from 1935; this photograph was taken in 2005.
2. 2018-10-22 — Lady Bird Johnson and the Highway Beautification Act. In 1965 the Highway Beautification Act, championed by Lady Bird Johnson, sought to tame the billboards along America's roads.
3. 2019 — Burma-Shave's roadside poems. From 1927, Burma-Shave lined the highways with sequential rhyming signs — the most beloved billboards in America. The subject dates from 1927; this photograph was taken in 2019.
4. 2019 — The billboards of Route 66. The Mother Road bristled with hand-painted motel, diner and attraction signs luring travelers off the highway. The subject dates from 1950; this photograph was taken in 2019.
5. 2026-06-08 — The roadside billboard. As Americans took to the automobile, billboards marched along every highway to catch the passing driver.