 The route number was originally assigned over a portion of the current SH 16 between Fredericksburg and Comanche in Central Texas during the late 1920s.By the early 1930s, the route number was assigned along the current route south of Stowell to High Island and along the current SH 87 to Port Bolivar and eventually Galveston.By the end of the decade, the highway received its current High Island to Beaumont configuration.