US 17-1 was an original US Route appearing in 1927. It began at US 17/NC 20 Market St in Wilmington, then headed north on 4th St to Nixon St east to today's McRae St. to leave the Wilmington area (none of these streets US 17-1 used in Wilmington is primary highway now). US 17-1 proceeded north on Castle Hayne Rd. At Castle Hayne US 17-1 used Old Bridge Site Rd to cross the NE Cape Fear River. US 17-1's Wilmington routing US 17-1 followed US 117 and US 117 Business to Burgaw and Wallace. US 17-1 followed today's NC 11 to Kenansville. US 17-1 followed SR 1383 then today's NC 24 Business west to Warsaw, then US 117 to Faison and Calypso. US 17-1 picked us today's US 117-A into Mt. Olive. US 17-1 followed today's US 117 Bus through Goldsboro, then US 117 through Pikeville and Fremont. US 17-1 picked up today's US 301 via Dorothy Ln and Lattice Rd SE (cutoff by US 264 freeway). US 17-1 followed US 301, Forest Hills Loop, US 301 and Goldsboro St into Wilson, exiting via Herring St out to the current US 301/NC 42 jct. US 17-1 then followed US 301 north, used Elm City Rd through Elm City, US 301 through Sharpsburg, then US 301 Business through Rocky Mount. US 17-1 continued on US 301 through Whitakers and Enfield, then used US 301 Business through Halifax. Approaching Weldon, US 17-1 veered off US 301 and instead used Washington Ave into Weldon. US 17-1 then cut east on 2nd St then north on Sycamore St to cross the Roanoke River. US 17-1 then followed US 301 through Garysburg and Pleasant Hill into Virginia, where the route continued to Petersburg. US 17-1 followed NC 40 from Wilmington to Weldon, then NC 481 to Virginia. In 1930, US 17-1 south was truncated to a rerouted US 17/NC 20/NC 30 which was using a new bridge over the NE Cape Fear River from Parsley St. 3rd St south became US 17/NC 20/NC 30/NC 40. In 1932, US 17-1 was renumbered as US 117 from Wilmington to near Wilson and US 301 from there to Virginia. US 17-1 is one of two known hyphenated US routes (US 29A-1 is the other).

US 17-1