Historic Roadside Markers
In 1926, the State of New York began a historic roadside marker program to acknowledge the sesquicentennial of the American Revolution, and for the next 13 years, the Education Department’s State history office placed over 2800 blue cast iron site markers with yellow lettering around the State to tell about historic locations and events around the State.
In the 1960s, the program was briefly renewed to place larger blue and yellow signs along rest stops on the State’s major highways. But the State ran out of funding, and no longer places such markers or maintains them. They quickly became, in many ways, a relic of history themselves. Today, however, there is more interest, not only in these old makers, but in erecting new ones that comply with the State’s requirements through private funding. Grants are given out by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, which, to date, has funded over 500 new markers.
