The National Road, conceived by George Washington, authorized by Thomas Jefferson, and traveled by Abraham Lincoln, was approved by the US Congress in 1806 to open the western interior to commerce and settlement as America’s first federally funded interstate highway, extending from Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling on the Ohio River. Congress authorized its extension into Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois in 1824 to link the capitals of the new states, and the road reached Indiana in 1827. During its heyday in Indiana from 1830 to 1850, travelers flooded the road, which provided a convenient route to markets east and west and supported blacksmith shops, taverns, stagecoaches carrying letters, newspapers, and cash, and a booming economy despite muddy, rough, and crowded travel conditions. As rail and canal networks expanded in the 1850s, traffic declined and the road fell into disrepair, but the automobile revived it in the 1920s. Under the federal highway numbering system established in 1926, the old National Road became US Route 40, a transcontinental highway from Atlantic City, NJ, to San Francisco, CA, and gas stations, diners, and motels brought new prosperity. Until the completion of Interstate 70 in the 1970s, US 40 remained one of the country’s primary east-west routes. In 2002 the US Secretary of Transportation designated the Historic National Road from Maryland to Illinois an All-American Road, and Indiana has worked to preserve its segment, structures, and landscapes along this corridor. Along the road, the restored 1841 Huddleston Farmhouse in Cambridge City continues to welcome visitors, and the H&C Studebaker blacksmith shop, which became the Studebaker Manufacturing Company in 1868, grew into the world’s largest wagon manufacturer before introducing an electric car in 1902 and a gasoline-powered car in 1904.