Early 20th century development of the automobile spurred major road improvements across the United States. Senator John H. Bankhead of Alabama sponsored the 1916 Federal Aid Road Act, which provided matching funds to states to upgrade roads, and the Bankhead Highway became an east-to-west transcontinental route from Washington, D.C. to San Diego. In Texas, its route included Texarkana, Dallas, Fort Worth, and El Paso. Entering Eastland County from the east, early automobiles faced the narrow, winding, and extremely steep Thurber Hill, also called Ranger Hill or the Big Hill. Near the hill, a Works Progress Administration roadside park was developed, and to the west Scenic Point offered a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. The highway supported growing transportation and commerce networks in Eastland County. In Ranger, it crossed the railroad tracks and turned left onto South Commerce Street at the 1923 passenger train depot. Along the highway also lay Ranger Municipal Airport, in use since 1911 and officially dedicated in 1928, and J. H. McCleskey No. 1 Discovery Well, site of Ranger's 1917 oil strike. Through Olden and Eastland, much of the route is aligned with the I-20 westbound access road. In Eastland, it entered along East Main Street, passed the States Oil Company, turned on Bassett to Commerce Street, and passed the 1928 Eastland County Courthouse. From Ranger to Cisco, the road was paved with Thurber vitrified brick. The route can be followed on Highway 6 from Eastland to Cisco, site of Conrad Hilton's first hotel, the Mobley Hotel, in 1919, and then along FM 2945 toward Putnam and the Callahan County line.