End of US highway 281

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: Jeff Morrison; Steven Nelson; Kenneth Slaathaug; Stephen Taylor; me
Additional research: Chris Geelhart

Historic northern segment
Approx. time period North Terminus South Terminus
1932-1933 Rocklake, ND (near Tripp, SD)
1933-1938 Rocklake, ND Lebanon, KS
Historic southern segment
Approx. time period North Terminus South Terminus
1934-1938 Wichita Falls, TX Brownsville, TX
Single route (joined segments)
Approx. time period North Terminus South Terminus
1938-194x Rocklake, ND Brownsville, TX
194x-196x (near Hansboro, ND) Brownsville, TX
196x-present (near Dunseith, ND) Brownsville, TX
Point where signage changes from north/south to east/west: Fays Corner, TX
  East Terminus West Terminus
Brownsville, TX Hidalgo, TX

US 281 was commissioned in 1932. At the time its north terminus was in Rocklake ND. Instead of bypassing the town and the lake to the west (as it does today), US 281 ran along the east shore of the lake and ended at ND state hwy. 5 right in town (I'm guessing this junction would've been at Main and Eller):

Nelson, May 2007

It was during the 1940s that the US 281 designation was first extended to the Canada border. It was routed with ND 5 due north out of Rocklake (via what is now a county road). ND 5 split off due west through Elsberry (an abandoned railroad siding) to join its current route near Amourdale, but US 281 continued due north until it reached what is now CR 43. There it went west to Hansboro, and then north to the port of entry:

Slaathaug, Nov. 2005

It was sometime in the 1950s when US 281 bypassed Rocklake to the west, and joined with ND 5 on a new diagonal alignment between Rocklake and Amourdale. The photo below is looking west on northbound US 281/westbound ND 5, just south of Amourdale:

Slaathaug, Nov. 2005

As you can see, today US 281 continues ahead. But it once turned north here, via what is now ND 4, through Amourdale and Hansboro. Its terminus continued to be at the port of entry north of Hansboro until the early 1960s...

...which is when US 281 was rerouted along its current path: west from Amourdale with ND 5, through Rolla and Belcourt, all the way to Dunseith, and then a few miles north to the Canada border (not far from the International Peace Garden). This first shot below shows the north end of US 281 at the port of entry:

Taylor, 2000

Perhaps the landscape is not what you'd expect to find in ND; the highway runs through an isolated outcropping of hills known as the Turtle Mountains. It continues north as Manitoba hwy. 10, bound for Brandon. The photo below shows the first southbound US 281 sign:

Taylor, 2000

The green sign in the middleground indicates that Dunseith is 14 miles ahead.

The original US 281 through South Dakota ran east of where it does now:

c. 1932

The road designated SD hwy. 41 at the time of the map above now carries US 281 traffic. But as you can see, US 281 used to serve Mitchell, and its south end was at its junction with an older alignment of US 18 near Tripp. Based on that map, and on what the USGS topo maps show, it appears that US 18 ran eastward through Delmont on what is now 284th Street, or CR 500. One mile east of modern SD 37, US 18 met what is now 411th Avenue. USGS maps show a "Y" intersection there; as of 2006, the south fork of the "Y" still remains:

Morrison, June 2006

That's looking east on 284th. Eastbound US 18 used to follow the pavement, which curves to the right on 411th (it went south to Tripp before heading east again), but to the left on 411th was the south beginning of US 281. The photo below is from the perspective of historic westbound US 18:

Morrison, June 2006

That's looking north on 411th. US 18 continued to the left, and US 281 began straight ahead. Below is a view from the opposite direction (south on 411th):

Morrison, June 2006

Eastbound US 18 came in from the right and continued straight ahead, so US 281 ended here...

...however, that lasted for only one year - the south end was extended through Nebraska to Lebanon KS in 1933. The photo below is looking south on US 281 at the US 36 interchange; Lebanon is a mile and-a-half behind the camera:

me, Nov. 2001

Today the US 281 designation continues south from here via westbound US 36 to Smith Center. But from 1933 to 1938, US 281 ended here (of course the view has changed a bit - there wasn't a grade separation at the time). Click here if you'd like to see photos from the geographic center of the 48 contiguous states, just outside Lebanon.

Maps in 1934 began showing a separate southern segment of US 281, running through Texas from Wichita Falls to Brownsville (it was in 1938 that the two segments of US 281 were joined between Wichita Falls and Lebanon KS). In Wichita Falls, US 281 came in on Old Jacksboro Highway (now Loop 473), ending at Scott Avenue (then US 370, later US 287, now Business 287). The photo below is looking north on Old Jacksboro:

me, Mar. 2012

The north end of the south segment of US 281 was at the intersection ahead. The white pickup has just turned off from eastbound Scott; historically he would've been travelling on eastbound US 370, turning onto the north beginning of US 281. A bit south of town, that road connects with modern US 281, which leads all the way down to Brownsville. You can view photos from there on this page...

...however, note that - based on the majority of actual road signage - the "south" end of US 281 is not in Brownsville. It's actually at Fays Corner TX - an intersection south of Pharr and east of Hidalgo. Most maps show that the highway heading west from here to Hidalgo is "Spur US 281", and that mainline 281 goes east to Brownsville. However, the actual signage at that intersection (shown in the photo below) indicates nothing of the sort:

Taylor, 2000

That's looking southbound on US 281; Hidalgo is to the right here, and Brownsville is to the left. This photo makes it look like the highway signage changes to east/west at this point. But Steven reports that this is actually one of the few places in the Rio Grande Valley where US 281 is signed with any directional - perhaps because it's kind of a confusing situation.

Anyway, if you take that right and go through Hidalgo, you see the last sign shown below, just shy of the border crossing into Mexico:

Taylor, 2000

That's arguably the "west" end of US 281 (but note the lack of a directional). However, heading the opposite direction, the first 281 sign in Hidalgo is signed "North":

Taylor, 2000

Note that none of these signs mark this route as "Spur US 281". Stephen reports that road signage in this part of Texas is uncharacteristically poor - so it's hard to say what's going on. More examples at the "east" end of US 281, shown on the Brownsville page.