Knowing we were going to pass the historic town of Indio, I looked on atlas obscura and found the Dr. June McCarroll Monument, a tribute to the frontier doctor who came up with the idea of delineating highways with a painted line.
Born in New York in 1867, June McCarroll was a nurse (later a physician) with the Southern Pacific Railroad in the early 20th century. According to this historic marker in Indio, after a near-collision in her Model T in 1917, "She personally painted the first known stripe in California on Indio Boulevard, then part of U.S. Route 99."
Besides these life saving street lines, Dr. June McCarroll was the first white doctor to minister to the tens of thousands of Indians in California, winning the hearts of the tribal medicine men. Who knew?
So the next time you're traveling safely in your own lane, think of Dr. June. From that one mile 4-inch wide stripe on Indio Boulevard (painted over 100 years ago) sprang the myriad of colors of stripes and other markings on our streets and highways to enhance our motoring safety. History is found in some interesting places. Wow.
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