Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified American city about 1900, probably somewhere in the mid-West. Imagine if the city streets are like this, what the roads in the countryside are like. The boards were a version of sidewalks. The sreet would trun into a muddy mess when it rained. Think what would happen to the woman's dress when she crossed the road. Notice that the city is not composed of hastily erected wooden structures, but substantial brick buildings.

The railroads solved the problem of long-distance transport. But this still meant that roads except in the environs of major cities were not very important and thus undeveloped. And until the turn-of the 20th century, individual transport was still based on the horse. This is why the power of engines are still measured in horsepower. And it limited cargoes that could be delivered. Wagons were basically limited to four-horse teams. Can you imagine what life would be like today with engines limited to four horse-power. Which meant that transport for America's growing urban population was very limited. Established cites had improved roads--streets. But the new towns springing up as the Frontier moved west had muddy morasses for years. And outside of city centers few streets and roads were improved. What did change the importance of roads was Henry Ford and his Model-T Tin Lizzy. The Model-T and the assembly line provided unprecedented mobility not only to individuals, but as a result of trucks, to businesses as well. And the cost of a Model-T was low enough that most American workers could aford one. In increasingly urbanized America, only a limied number could afford a horse and carriage. You had to have money to be able to maintain a horse in a city. A car was a very different matter. Large numbes of well-paid workers could afford a car. And the rapidly growing number of car owners wanted decent paved streets in the city and improved roads in the suburbs and countryside. A young Lieutenant Colonel Dwight Eisenhower did not get to France during World War I. He did participate in the first transcontinental motor convoy--a coast-to-coast U.S. Army convoy which highlighted the deplorable American road system (1919). All of this his to a major effort at road building. While the railroad connected the country. There were no roads that connected the country. This began to change when Henry Ford invented the Model-T. Americans adopted the automobile with a passion began buying Model-Ts and other cars in large numbers. The automobile would not only change the world, but the industry that produced it would be a major cog in the Arsenal of Democracy that saved Western Civilization. Americans had cars, but they did not have many decent highways. None other than a young officer named Dwight Eisenhower . Will Rogers would quip that "America is the only country to go to the poor house in an automobile". All those car owners began demanding improved highways. Four decades later that same Dwight Eisenhower who slooged through American Wetern highways commanded Amercan troops who slogged tgrough France and Belgium until they got to the Reich and the the marvelous German Autobahns in te final months of World War II. A decde later he would launch the American Interstate Highway System (1950s).

Created: 1:40 AM 12/5/2024
Last updated: 1:40 AM 12/5/2024