Bankhead Highway through Eastland County
Ranger, Eastland County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Early 20th century development of the automobile led to major road system improvements throughout the United States. Senator John H. Bankhead of Alabama sponsored the 1916 Federal Aid Road Act, which supplied matching funds to states to upgrade roads. The Bankhead Highway became an east-to-west transcontinental highway from Washington, D.C. to San Diego. The Bankhead Highway's route through Texas included the major cities of Texarkana, Dallas, Fort Worth and El Paso. As the highway entered Eastland County from the east, a narrow, winding and extremely steep feature known as Thurber Hill, Ranger Hill or the "Big Hill" was one of the first challenges for early automobiles. A Works Progress Administration (WPA) roadside park was developed near the hill, and another prominent feature to the west, "Scenic Point," provided a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. The highway supported growing networks of transportation and commerce in Eastland County. In Ranger, the Bankhead Highway crossed the railroad tracks, turning left onto South Commerce Street at the 1923 passenger train depot. Ranger Municipal Airport, in use since 1911 and officially dedicated in 1928, and J. H. McCleskey No. 1 Discovery Well, site of Ranger's 1917 oil strike, also lie along the highway. Through Olden and Eastland, much of the Bankhead Highway is aligned with the I-20 westbound access road. The highway entered Eastland along East Main Street, passed the States Oil Company, then turned on Bassett to Commerce Street and passed the 1928 Eastland County Courthouse. The road was paved with Thurber vitrified brick from Ranger to Cisco. The Bankhead Highway can be followed on Highway 6 from Eastland to Cisco, the site of Conrad Hilton's first hotel (the Mobley Hotel) in 1919, and then along FM 2945 toward Putnam and the Callahan County line. (2015)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The early automobile spurred a national road-building push, and Senator John H. Bankhead's 1916 Federal Aid Road Act channeled matching funds to states to upgrade their highways. The resulting Bankhead Highway ran coast to coast from Washington, D.C., to San Diego, entering Eastland County over the notorious "Big Hill" that challenged early cars. Through Ranger, Olden, Eastland, and Cisco the route passed oil-strike sites, a WPA roadside park, brick-paved stretches from Thurber, and Conrad Hilton's first hotel. Much of it now follows Highway 6 and the I-20 access roads.
Why it matters
The Bankhead Highway was one of America's first transcontinental auto routes, and its path through Eastland County knit together the oil booms, railroads, and new car culture that remade the region.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early twentieth century, the automobile changed America faster than almost anything before it. Cars multiplied, but the roads did not keep up — most were dirt tracks that turned to mud in the rain and dust in the drought. A national demand rose for real highways that could carry this new machine across the country.
Washington answered. Senator John H. Bankhead of Alabama sponsored the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, which offered states matching funds to build and improve their roads. It was a landmark moment: the federal government stepping in to knit the nation together by pavement.
Out of that push came the Bankhead Highway, a transcontinental route stretching from Washington, D.C., all the way to San Diego. In Texas it ran through Texarkana, Dallas, Fort Worth, and El Paso — and its passage through Eastland County put small towns on the map of a coast-to-coast journey.
People & events
For early drivers, the county announced itself with a challenge. Coming in from the east rose a steep, narrow, winding grade known variously as Thurber Hill, Ranger Hill, or simply the 'Big Hill' — a real test for underpowered cars laboring uphill. Nearby, a Works Progress Administration roadside park offered a place to rest, and a lookout called 'Scenic Point' opened up a sweeping view of the countryside.
The highway threaded the region's boom-time landmarks together. In Ranger it crossed the railroad and turned at the 1923 passenger depot, passing the site of the McCleskey discovery well, where a 1917 strike had set off Ranger's oil rush, and the municipal airport. In Eastland it ran past the county courthouse; the roadway itself was paved with hard-fired Thurber vitrified brick from Ranger to Cisco.
And in Cisco, the road passed a small hotel with an outsized legacy: the Mobley Hotel, which Conrad Hilton bought in 1919. That purchase is remembered as the first step of one of the most famous names in the hotel business.
Its place in the American story
The Bankhead Highway was one of America's first named transcontinental auto routes, part of the generation of roads that made the country drivable long before the interstates. Following it through Eastland County is a way of tracing how modern America was assembled — federal policy, local ambition, and new technology meeting on a single stretch of road.
What makes this corridor remarkable is how much converged along it: railroads, an oil boom, a WPA-era public works project, and the birth of a hospitality empire, all within a few miles. The highway did not just pass through the region; it carried the commerce and the traffic that let these developments feed one another.
Today much of the old route survives as Highway 6 and the access roads alongside Interstate 20 — a reminder that our newest roads are usually built on the path of older ones, and that the story of American mobility is layered right into the ground beneath the modern lanes.
If you visit
This is a marker best appreciated by driving, because the Bankhead Highway was always about the journey. Follow Highway 6 from Eastland toward Cisco and imagine the same road a century ago, crowded with slow, boxy automobiles making a coast-to-coast adventure out of what we now take for granted.
Watch for the layers of history the route strings together: the old depot, the courthouse, and the stretches that parallel the interstate. Where the road climbs, picture the 'Big Hill' as an obstacle drivers genuinely feared, and look out over the countryside as travelers once did from their roadside stop.
In Cisco, the connection to Conrad Hilton's first hotel makes for a satisfying stop on any road trip — a small-town beginning to a global story. Take the older highway rather than the freeway where you can; the whole point of a route like this is to travel it the slow way and let the landscape unfold.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · John H. Bankhead
- · Conrad Hilton
Related events
- · Federal Aid Road Act of 1916
Themes & tags
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