End of historic U.S. Highway 401 [I]

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info on this page is based on the research of Robert Droz; click here to view his site. Research and/or photo credits: H.B. Elkins; Mike Roberson; Jimmy Storey

The "US 401" that you see on modern maps wasn't commissioned until 1957; you can read about its endpoints on this page. There was a different US 401 in 1933, which you can read about here. But this page discusses the first US 401, which was commissioned with the original US routes in 1926. The east beginning of US 401 [I] was in South Hill VA. At the time, US 1 came in from the north via Mecklenburg Avenue, and then turned west on Danville Street (as it does yet today). But instead of staying on Danville, US 1 was directed south on Goodes Ferry Road, and it then followed today's VA hwy. 903 out of town. From that turn US 401 began by continuing west on Danville, then splitting off to Plank Road. The photo below was taken looking the opposite direction (east on Danville):

Roberson, Feb. 2008

The silver car is at the north end of Goodes Ferry Rd (original US 1). In the late 1920s and early 1930s, if a driver there wanted to continue north on US 1, he'd turn to his right (away from the camera). But if he turned toward the camera and followed the black truck, he'd be at the east beginning of US 401.

During the short time it existed, the routings of both US 1 and US 401 were changed in the South Hill area. As a result, there were three different places where US 401 junctioned US 1. Initially the junction was right in South Hill, at the intersection shown above. By 1927, US 1 had been rerouted to its current alignment, so US 401 met US 1 at Lombardy Grove (about five miles south of South Hill). Then in 1930, US 401 was realigned to follow the current path of US 58, so it met US 1 about six miles south of South Hill. However, the route logs suggest that US 401 never ended at those later junctions with US 1... rather, it was always co-signed to its original endpoint in South Hill.

At first the west end of US 401 was at US 15 in Clarksville VA:

Elkins, July 2008

Obviously that junction has changed significantly since the late 1920s, but it represents where US 401 ended at US 15 for a few years. Then in about 1930, the route was extended west, to the junction with US 501 in South Boston. The photo below is looking north on US 501:

Storey, Nov. 2002

It's possible that US 401 began to the right on today's US 58/360. But that extension may have never been signed, because it was less than a year later that US 58 was commissioned. What had been US 401 became a small segment of the new US 58.