Yellow brick road
The actual road is believed to be one in Peekskill, New York, where L. Frank Baum attended Peekskill Military Academy. According to a local legend, the Yellow Brick Road was derived from a road paved with yellow bricks near Holland, Michigan, where Baum spent summers. Ithaca, New York, also makes a claim for being Frank Baum's inspiration. He opened a road tour of his musical, The Maid of Arran, in Ithaca, and he met his future wife Maud Gage Baum while she was attending Cornell University. At the time, yellow bricks paved local roads. Yellow brick roads can also be found in Aberdeen, South Dakota; Albany, New York; Rossville (Baltimore County), Maryland; Montclair, New Jersey (Parkhurst Place and Afterglow Way); Bronxville, New York (on Prescott and Valley roads); Chicago, Illinois; Liberal, Kansas; Sedan, Kansas and Chittenango, New York, as well as a school in Abington, Pennsylvania, and abroad in Sofia, Bulgaria.
St. Charles Rock Road
In 1819, St. Charles Road was established as a post road and stagecoach road; by 1837 it became a turnpike. The road furnished access to the Santa Fe Trail and Oregon Trail for the many westbound wagon trains that were outfitted in St. Louis. After passage of the Missouri Plank Road Law in 1851, it became an oak plank road. In 1865, St. Charles Road was rebuilt with macadam and renamed St. Charles Rock Road. In 1921, it became the first concrete state highway in St. Louis County. In 1953, St. Charles Rock Road was completed as a divided two-lane highway along much of its length.