In 1924, the original route was established; it was routed from the
Indiana state line west of
Van Wert to the
Pennsylvania state line east of
East Liverpool along the current
U.S. Route 30 from Indiana to
Mansfield, current
U.S. Route 42 from Mansfield to
Ashland, current
U.S. Route 250 from Ashland to west of Wooster, U.S. Route 30 from west of Wooster to east of
Dalton,
State Route 172 from east of Dalton to Waco, U.S. Route 30 from Waco to East Liverpool, and
State Route 39 from East Liverpool to Pennsylvania. In 1932, Delphos to Mansfield was certified as U.S. Route 30N. At an unknown time, the route realigned from northeast of
Warren to
Cortland. In 1969, the western terminus was moved to 3½ south of Ravenna, and routed along a new bypass route to east of Ravenna; the former alignment from Wooster to
State Route 21 was certified as State Route 585, while the former alignment from south of
Cuyahoga Falls to east of Ravenna was certified as State Route 59. At another unknown time, the route was realigned from east of Ravenna to west of Warren. In 1970, the Warren Bypass was completed from
U.S. Route 422 to northeast of Warren (Elm Road) and was certified as State Route 5B. A year later, it was extended to west of Warren, with the entire bypass being certified as State Route 5 and the State Route 5B designation removed. The bypass was upgraded to a freeway in 1978. ==Major intersections==