The Swastika Trail in Illinois-- Part 2: On a Rand McNally Map in 1923

From Worth Point.com  "1923 McNally  Indian Road Map of Illinois Swastika Trail.

A fold out 22 x 28-inch map of Illinois includes Illinois, southeastern Iowa, western Indiana and northeaster Missouri.

It includes a gallery of pole markings for named highways in the era before numbered highways.  Some of the ones shown on this 1923 map are the Kickapoo Trail, National Old Trails Road, Dixie Highway, Lincoln Highway, Bee Line, Yellowstone Trail The Great White Way, Egyptian Trail,  Red Ball Route, Ben-Hur Highway, Waubonsie Trail, Blue Grass Road, Wabash Way and the Swastika Trail.

Of course, today the word swastika is linked with the Nazis, but it is a native southwestern U.S.  design and its use was not uncommon through the 1920s.

Prior to the 1920s federal highway numbering system, one of the named routes through Illinois, indicated by the distinctive hooked cross pole marker, was known as the Swastika Trail.

--RoadDog