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Establishing the Jefferson Highway Route in Iowa

Establishing the Jefferson Highway Route in Iowa. Alexa McDowell AKAY Consulting - Boone, IA. Introduction. Timeline Setting the Stage Mason City - “Metropolis of Northern Iowa” Booster Extraordinaire The Final Mile. Timeline. 1905 An estimated 1,650 autos in Iowa. Setting the Stage.

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Establishing the Jefferson Highway Route in Iowa

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  1. Establishing the Jefferson Highway Route in Iowa Alexa McDowell AKAY Consulting - Boone, IA

  2. Introduction • Timeline • Setting the Stage • Mason City - “Metropolis of Northern Iowa” • Booster Extraordinaire • The Final Mile

  3. Timeline • 1905 An estimated 1,650 autos in Iowa

  4. Setting the Stage • The Good Roads Movement • Gardner Cowles, publisher of the Des Moines Register

  5. 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

  6. “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.”

  7. 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.

  8. Timeline - 1915 • An estimated 145,000 automobiles in Iowa

  9. 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.

  10. E.T. Meredith - Des Moines “When the Jefferson Highway was conceived, it seemed to be the fancy of dreamers.”

  11. 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

  12. The Route in Iowa • Interstate Trail became the backbone for the JH route in Iowa • 500 miles of “well-organized, well-marked highway”

  13. Mason City - “Metropolis of Northern Iowa”

  14. Mason City population in 1919 of 26,000 • Two cement plants • Mason City Brick & Tile Company • 10 miles to resort area of Clear Lake

  15. Mason City and the Auto • 1903 Joshua Melson owned the city’s first car • 1907 Two car dealerships in business • 1910 Colby Motor Co. established • 1915 15 car dealerships in business • 1920 19 car dealerships in business

  16. Mason City Chamber of Commerce • Streets and Highways committee • Marketing support • Tourist Information Bureau • Business development

  17. “… 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.”

  18. Booster Extraordinaire

  19. Hugh H. Shepard • Mason City born & raised • Attorney, abstractor, businessman, land owner, developer • Community activist • Hobby was “Good Roads”

  20. “Service is the rent you pay for the position you occupy in the community.”

  21. Timeline - 1920 • An estimated 411,000 cars and 30,000 trucks in Iowa

  22. 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

  23. Timeline - 1921 • 69 miles of paving on Iowa’s primary roads

  24. 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

  25. Timeline - 1922 • 330 miles of paving on Iowa’s primary roads

  26. Timeline - 1925 • 502 miles of paving on Iowa’s primary roads

  27. 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

  28. Timeline - 1928 • 61 Iowa counties had issued bonds for primary road projects • 1,500 miles of paved roads • $100 million state bond issued

  29. Timeline - 1930 • State line celebration

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