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Tracing the History of U.S. Route 24 from Genoa, Colorado’s Wonder Tower

Passing through the open plains of eastern Colorado, we made a brief stop at one of the state’s more peculiar roadside relics: the World’s Wonder View Tower. Perched near the town of Genoa, the now-shuttered attraction once invited travelers to climb a winding staircase to a lofty platform where, on a clear day, they claimed you could see six states. The tower is long closed, its promise faded into nostalgia, but the view from this stretch of land remains unique in other ways.

From here, you can trace the evolution of American travel—layered like sediment across the landscape. Down below, a railroad cuts a sharp line across the prairie. Nearby are the remains of early highway alignments and, farther still, the steady hum of Interstate 70.

The railroad arrived first. In 1889, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad laid its tracks across northern Lincoln County, planting the seeds for settlement and commerce. 3 Early roads followed—crude dirt paths that had evolved from wagon trails. By 1925, those roads had been surfaced, marking the beginning of Colorado’s modern highway system.

When the federal government introduced the U.S. Numbered Highway System in 1926, the routes through this region were designated U.S. Routes 40S and 40N. Route 40S followed what is now the I-70 corridor from Grand Junction to Minturn, then met the current-day Route 24 to Limon. From Limon eastward through Genoa to Kansas, the route was known as 40N.

Improvements came in stages. Route 40S saw upgrades in 1933, 4 and in 1936, both 40S and 40N were rebranded as U.S. Route 24, part of a westward extension from Kansas City.

By the 1950s, travel was changing fast. In 1955, Colorado began realigning and widening U.S. Route 24 across Lincoln County, building two-lane routes and brief four-lane bypasses, including one that curved around Genoa. 5

Genoa 1955 map
1955 Colorado Department of Highways plans show the proposed two- and four-lane bypass of Genoa.

That shift gained momentum under the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944, which greenlit the first segment of what would become Interstate 70. 1 Yet the original east–west route from Baltimore to Denver was only the beginning. In 1956, a more ambitious plan was approved as part of the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act. The new bill, backed by $25 billion in funding, aimed to connect regions across the country—including a vital link between Southern California and the Northeast.

By 1975, Interstate 70 had been completed through this stretch of Colorado, built in part over the upgraded alignments of old Route 24. 2 5 What once began as a wagon path had become a modern four-lane highway.

Standing near the base of the World’s Wonder View Tower, you can still see where the old roads once ran—the original Route 24 snaking through Genoa, its mid-century bypass, and finally, the broad expanse of I-70 stretching toward the horizon. It’s a reminder of how each era of travel—from railroads to interstates—has reshaped the American landscape.

Sources

  1. Interstate 70.” Colorado Encyclopedia.
  2. Construction Timeline.” Colorado Department of Transportation.
  3. Montgomery, Ernest. “Division No. 5.Colorado Highways, Jan. 1926, p. 23.
  4. Plan and Profile of Proposed State Highway No. 4.Colorado State Highway Department, 1933.
  5. Plan and File of Proposed State Highway No. 4 (70).” Colorado Department of Highways, 1959.

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