| Text for this page on the Iowa Lincoln Highway
Association web site is borrowed from Frank Rowsome, Jr.'s book, the verse by
the side of the road, published by the Penguin group. The 1990 edition of the book has a forward by an American with whom we are all familiar: "...Growing up on the high plains of Kansas during the dust bowl years, I still remember the signs. They were as much a part of the scenery as the wheatfields and cattle. The big cities may have had outdoor ads the size of a ten-story building, or cigarette billboards that blew smoke rings, but rural America had Burma-Shave. We had the space, the ruler-straight roads the staggered signs needed and, judging by the Burma-Shave message, the heaviest beards in America. I am honored to write the introduction for this special 25th anniversary edition of the verse by the side of the road. It is an all-American success story." - Bob Dole |
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The first B-S signs appeared in 1927 and new ones continued to come out until 1963, when the country was and would continue undergoing a lot of change in its culture and attitudes. If you would like to read more about the Burma-Shave legend, buy the Frank Rowsome book. Besides the thorough list of signs, it tells the history of the company and the story behind the by-the-roadside concept.
The thoughtfulness that went into each Burma-Shave jingle is remarkable. B-Shave signage certainly has the greeting card industry beaten, though conveying a four stanza Burma salutation for a wedding or funeral is probably inappropriate. See if you don't recognize trends in the signs influenced by their decade of introduction. For example, the earliest signs seem to have more of a rural tone, while the war years were, well, the war years. The 50s saw more emphasis on driving and less on shaving, two of the three behaviors around which the signs existed - the third of course being romance!
1927 
1928
1929 1930 1931 1932
1933 1934 1935 1936
1937 1938 1939 1940
1941 1942 1943 1945
1947 1948 1949 1950
1951 1952 1953 1955
1959 1960 1963