NY 3 originally followed a vastly different alignment than it does today. In 1924, it was assigned to the New York portion of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway, an auto trail that extended from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon. In New York, it connected North Tonawanda (near Niagara Falls) in the west to Plattsburgh in the east via Rochester and Watertown. NY 3 began at what is now the intersection of US 62 and NY 425 and followed modern NY 425 north through Cambria Station to Cambria Center, from where the highway continued to Lockport on Lower Mountain, Gothic Hill, and Upper Mountain Roads and modern NY 31. It remained on current NY 31 through the city and mostly followed that route's modern alignment across western New York to the city of Rochester. The most significant exception to this was between Lockport and Gasport, where NY 3 veered south by way of modern NY 77 and County Route 10 (CR 10) to serve the hamlet of McNalls.