The
Good
Roads
Movement
Rural Roads in the Late 19th Century
Railroad competition drove the long-distance wagon freighter and stagecoach companies out of business in the 1850’s and 1860’s, and traffic fell off to the point where toll road operation was unprofitable. Some of the turnpike companies were able to sell their roads to the counties for much less than they cost originally; but most of them simply surrendered their charters and ceased operation. Their facilities were then taken over by the local authorities and maintained as common roads. With the heavy through traffic gone, the more prosperous counties were able to maintain these roads in fairly good condition for local travel.[N 1] In the poorer counties, travel became more and more uncomfortable as the old turnpikes deteriorated from lack of care.
In the East, the old turnpikes were only a fraction of the mileage under county and township control. Most of the people lived along roads that were established in the early days of settlement through continued public use rather than by plan. These followed the boundaries between farms or occupied the lands least suited for agriculture, and, thus, were often winding and poorly located. Over the years, they had been improved by the county and township supervisors with what scanty funds they could raise from taxes, and practically everywhere, except in the wealthiest counties, these roads were maintained by statute labor.
A 1948 map of Kansas showing State highways generally located on a grid pattern, a carry over from the days when roads were built on section lines and each owner donated land for the right-of-way.
The local road situation was somewhat different in the “public land States”—i.e., those States that had
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- ↑ J. Owen, The Controverted Questions in Road Construction, Transactions, Vol. 28 (American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, 1893) p. 111.
