Highway 140 Centennial celebration to honor historic Yosemite route

The community is invited to celebrate the centennial of California State Route 140, the historic “All-Year Highway” that has carried generations of travelers between the Central Valley, Mariposa County and Yosemite National Park.

The celebration is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 22, and will mark 100 years since the route opened in 1926. Highway 140 helped transform travel to Yosemite by providing a lower-elevation, more reliable road into the park, following the Merced River corridor through foothills, canyon country and historic communities.

The event will begin at 11 a.m. with a centennial motorcade procession of vintage automobiles. The procession will start in downtown Mariposa at the Mariposa Gazette office and travel to the Mariposa Museum & History Center.

A program and reception will follow at 11:30 a.m. at the museum at 5119 Jessie Street. Guests are encouraged to attend in period dress from the 1920s or 1930s.

Originally known as the “All-Year Highway,” the route opened a new chapter in Yosemite travel. Construction began in the mid-1920s as automobile tourism was reshaping access to national parks. Built along the Merced River and through the rugged canyon leading toward El Portal and Yosemite Valley, the highway made year-round motor travel to Yosemite more practical than higher mountain routes that were often limited by winter weather.

The road strengthened Mariposa’s role as a gateway community and helped support the region’s tourism, hospitality and transportation history. Over time, Highway 140 became more than a route to Yosemite; it became part of the journey itself, known for its river canyon scenery, Gold Rush-era towns and connection to the park’s early era of automobile travel.

The centennial celebration is presented by the Yosemite Mariposa County Tourism Bureau in partnership with Yosemite National Park and the Mariposa Museum & History Center.