OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — State Route 99 in Washington state has gotten a new name in honor of one of Snohomish County's earliest African American settlers.

KING-TV reports that the highway has been renamed The William P. Stewart Memorial Highway. The state's commissioners approved the name change on Tuesday after state lawmakers voted in favor of it earlier this year.

Stewart had volunteered to fight for the United States in the Civil War before he headed west to Washington.

His great-granddaughter, Marilyn Quincy, who resides in Snohomish County, says she was told her relative was a humble man and that he probably would have been "completely overwhelmed" by the honor.

Two signs that will be installed on the highway showing the new name will cost the state about $5,000.

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