establishing the jefferson highway route in iowa alexa mcdowell akay consulting - boone, ia
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
Timeline
Setting the Stage
Mason City - “Metropolis of Northern Iowa”
Booster Extraordinaire
The Final Mile
Setting the Stage - the Interstate Trail in Iowa
1911 Interstate Trail organized 1913 By-laws adopted 1915 Route extended north from Des Moines
to St. Paul, MN
500 miles of marked highway from Lamoni through Osceola, Indianola, Des Moines, Nevada, Iowa Falls, Mason City, and Northwood
“The officers and trustees were without exception men of integrity and high standing in their local communities, who recognized the development of good roads as a proper community service and gladly devoted their time without pay in working for the good roads movement, and co-operated on the ground with state and county authorities in the work of actually completing the building of a dependable road.”
W.A. Hopkins - Lamoni
W.A. Hopkins, mortician- turned-banker, organized the State Savings Bank of Lamoni. At the first hint of an organized effort to get Iowa out of the mud, Hopkins became a Good Roads booster, leading to the organization of the Interstate Trail.
Timeline - 1915
Jefferson Highway Association organized in New Orleans
E.T. Meredith was elected the first president and quickly established the publication, the Jefferson Highway Declaration.
E.T. Meredith - Des Moines
“When the Jefferson Highway
was conceived, it seemed to be
the fancy of dreamers.”
The Case for the Jefferson Highway
Destined to be popular vacation route due to the diversity of climate and topography
Nearly 1/3 of proposed JH already organized, including the Interstate Trail in Iowa
The Route in Iowa
Interstate Trail became the backbone for the JH route in Iowa
500 miles of “well-organized, well-marked highway”
Mason City population in 1919 of 26,000
Two cement plants
Mason City Brick & Tile Company
10 miles to resort area of Clear Lake
Mason City and the Auto
1903Joshua Melson owned the city’s first car
1907Two car dealerships in business
1910Colby Motor Co. established
191515 car dealerships in business
192019 car dealerships in business
Mason City Chamber of Commerce
Streets and Highways committee
Marketing support
Tourist Information Bureau
Business development
“… it is estimated that an average tourist party spends $50.00 in a city like Mason City. It is an established fact that tourists travel over marked highways that come through Mason City.”
Hugh H. Shepard
Mason City born & raised
Attorney, abstractor, businessman, land owner, developer
Community activist
Hobby was “Good Roads”
Timeline - 1920
25 miles of paving on Iowa’s primary roads
Only Oklahoma and South Dakota had a smaller percentage of total road mileage surfaced than did Iowa
Timeline - 1921
Jefferson Highway named the cross-continent military road “from the gulf to the lakes” making it the primary north to south roadway in the nation
Timeline - 1925
Start of Iowa’s first gas tax of 2 cents per gallon to help support local and state road projects
All of the JH in Iowa had been built to finished grade or was under contract for construction except less than 1 mile in Warren County
Timeline - 1928
61 Iowa counties had issued bonds for primary road projects
1,500 miles of paved roads
$100 million state bond issued