Sign Over Main Street, 1940s

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was dedicated in 1936 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Waynesville served as the most convenient Eastern entrance to the park and as a result tourism in the town flourished.

The sign for the park, seen here in these photos, was erected in 1934 and taken down in the late 1950s. It was located at the intersection of Main Street and Depot Street in Waynesville, close to where the Haywood County Courthouse is today.

Photographs courtesy of Henry Foy, The Haywood County Library Digital Collection