(June 4, 1935-April 16, 2003)
Within a month of taking these pictures, the signs came down on the date above. Palo Alto County orginally accepted the road Dec. 3, 2002, and Ayrshire on Dec. 13; the highway commission voted to transferred it Jan. 14, 2003.
NORTH End: Stop sign, US 18, Palo Alto County
Facing north on 314
Facing north on 314
This will probably be the first mileage sign the county replaces.
And in the background, a photogenic representation of a hog lot. :-|
Facing west on 18
Notice the Hiawatha Pioneer Trail sign with 18 in the background.
Facing west on 18
Facing east on 18
Facing east on 18
Facing east on 18
Ready for its closeup...
The 1999 film The Straight Story is based on a true story about a man who drove his lawn mower from Laurens to Mt. Zion, Wisconsin, to see his brother. At least one draft of the screenplay puts some scenes as taking place on "Iowa County Highway 314" and then "Iowa Hwy 314 at Grotto sign". Unfortunately, films being notorious for direction and sign errors, 314 isn't on the way from Laurens to the Grotto of the Redemption near West Bend. (Later the screenplay mentions Highway 18.)
SOUTH End: Old C&NW railroad tracks, Ayrshire, Palo Alto County
Facing east, but heading south, on 314
Before getting to its end, 314 took a turn to go through Ayrshire's business district and it ends where railroad tracks used to be, not unlike other highways in the area. The two concrete strips on the road in the foreground have to be where railroad tracks were. The white building is right on the tracks. A shield for B53 is in the middle background.
Facing southeast
This picture gives a different view, showing the concrete strips running at an angle through the road and into the white building. When the shields were removed, the entire barrel was probably taken out.
Facing west, but heading north, on 314
Facing west, but heading north, on 314
In this direction, B53 is marked as starting here instead of secretly duplexed with 314, as it is in the other directions. Ahead is a paved road for three miles. Under the 314 arrow you can see a green sign; it says "Highway to Heaven", and someone at the newsgroup misc.transport.road informed me it leads to a cemetery (and also skirts the north end of Silver Lake).
Facing south on 314
The white sign under the stop sign says "Traffic from left does not stop." That traffic is 314 northbound, the previous picture; the pickup did not have to stop. B53 continues south with N28 for a mile before heading west again. Notice this direction includes B53 going east. Now it definitely does; also, the post-April version of this assembly should have the "Jct" above N28 removed. (The signs are all on one pole; the one behind 314 is not holding it.)
Facing north on N28
Well, N28 doesn't end anymore; it took over the north-south portion (the rest) of 314's route.
Facing north on 314
Like most spurs, the mileage sign heading out of town has only the destination highway shield.
Surrounding area information: Ayrshire school(s)
This school is just south of the 314 turn. Ayrshire is part of the Ruthven-Ayrshire school district, and its regal old buildings have fallen by the wayside. This double entrance was interesting; above both doors the lighter-colored stone says "Silver Lake Township". This building was constructed in 1920.
The addition on the north side (to the right of the top picture) was of decidedly different vintage. Judging from the architecture, I estimated it to be late 1950s or early 1960s. All the doors were padlocked shut.
Another view of the addition, facing west
You don't see nice big slides like these anymore. Too dangerous, they say.
Facing south
There were still lights surrounding what once was a baseball diamond. This would be looking from the third-base line. I doubt the field has been used since, oh, maybe the mid-1980s...
...but judging from the trees growing through the old merry-go-round, it may be longer.
To the north of 314's turn is this building. It had no discernible date, lots of open windows, and a "No Trespassing" sign. If you drove east along School Street, you'd run right into it.
Last seen: 2003
All pictures by me: Top seven, 3/22/03; bottom fourteen, 3/21/03
Page created 12/18/02; last updated 3/28/08