End of historic US highway 120

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info below is based on the research of Robert Droz and Jeff Kitsko. Photo credits: John and Barb Bee; Steven Nelson; Tim Reichard

The port cities on opposite corners of Pennsylvania (Erie and Philadelphia) weren't served for long by historic US 120 - in fact, according to some maps, not at all. (In Philadelphia, US 120 came in on Germantown Avenue, ending at the Bethlehem Pike, which carried US 309. You can view photos from that intersection on this page, or photos from the original west end of US 120 in Erie on this page.) There is some evidence that US routes in Pennsylvania were not actually posted immediately in 1927, and already by then the east end of US 120 had been truncated to its junction with US 422 in Reading. The photo below is looking south on Centre Avenue, and it shows modern signage approaching the junction with 5th Street:

Reichard

That was US 120, and it ended where PA hwy. 61 ends today. In the background you can see the sign assembly for "Junction Business US 222", but when US 120 ended here, it was mainline US 22 that ran along 5th.

Soon after that, much of the remainder of the route was swallowed up by extensions of other US routes... so, for the vast majority of its existence, US 120 ran only between Ridgway and Lock Haven. Below is a photo of its historic endpoint in Ridgway:

Bees

US 120 was changed to PA hwy. 120 in 1967. This is westbound at the terminus.

In Lock Haven, US 120 followed today's PA 120 to end at US 220, which at the time was routed along what is now designated as PA 150. The shot below is looking west on Main Street:

Nelson, Sep. 2007

Today this is PA 150/PA 120, but it was US 220, which continued straight ahead. To the right on Jay Street was the east beginning of US 120 (after two blocks, the route continued west on Water Street).