The “Copper County Explorer” published an article titled “The Centenarian Road”. With the increasing popularity and adaptation of the automobile for transportation, much of the nation’s roadways that had previously been built for horse and buggy traffic had become woefully obsolete. The dirt roads and pathways of the past were quickly chewed up and degraded into nothing more then mud pits, and the need for a more stable and solid road surface become painfully clear. Civic pride and commercial concerns prompted many municipalities to raise funds for the upgrading and paving of their streets, which not only allowed for more efficient transportation in its commercial districts, but also contributed to a cleaner and more “metropolitan” appearance. In 1906, the Red Jacket Village (Calumet—Calumet Township Village, Houghton County Michigan-Upper Peninsula, USA.) began work on resurfacing most of the village’s main thoroughfares. Once at the center of the mining industry of the Upper Peninsula, the village known as Red Jacket, includes the Calumet Downtown Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
While Red Jacket’s main commercial district – 5th Street – had already been paved with brick pavers, most of the rest of the village’s remaining streets were still only dirt pathways. The main methods of paving were brick, wood block, or macadam (a type of bonded gravel). But there was also a brand new type of paving agent used only sparingly (and selectively in larger cities such as Chicago) known at the time as “granitoid”—the precursor to today’s modern concrete pavement. Highly durable and thought to have a much longer lifespan than even paving bricks, granitoid had the distinction considerably cheaper price and installation costs. The village was sold, and that Spring, Red Jacket’s streets began to receive their brand new concrete surfaces.
Fast forward more than a century, and those concrete surfaces are amazingly still in use—although a hundred years of traffic have definitely taken their toll. Only four blocks of the pavement still exist today: two blocks along 7th between Oak and Scott, and two more along Portland between 9th and 7th. The fact that these roads are still intact after all this time is amazing, but it also demonstrates Copper Country’s economic misfortunes. These roads were state-of-the-art when they were installed in 1906.
In 1956 a historical marker was placed at the corner of Portland and 7th Streets denoting the site as the home to Michigan’s oldest concrete pavement. While true literally (this is the oldest surviving concrete pavement in Michigan), it’s a bit misleading as other cities had utilized the material before Red Jacket – including a long section of Woodward Ave in Detroit. For Woodward Avenue, please go to: 1909: First mile of concrete road, Detroit, MI, USA photo: Woodward Avenue Action Association: http://www.woodwardavenue.org.
To read the entire article from the “Copper County Explorer“, please go to: http://www.coppercountryexplorer.com/2013/01/the-centenarian-road/.
An additional article titled “Where the Pavement has Ended for Over 90 Years”, was recently published in the “Southeast Missourian Online News”, and describes a pair of historic 90-year-old concrete pavements from 1925. The New Madrid Floodway is home to this pair of concrete roads that are only nine feet wide. This particular road, originally designated as Highway 55, connected Charleston, Missouri in Mississippi County, USA with the remote community of Wolf Island near the Mississippi River. Constructed in phases between 1924 and 1925, this road featured over 20 miles of pavement—but only half the width of typical roads. Presumably this was done to save money, allowing for a longer road at a reduced cost. In later years, the road was widened with a second lane and an asphalt overlay. The far eastern end, however, has remained intact. It’s never been widened, and an attempt to resurface it has mostly eroded away. This has been the literal end of the pavement since 1925. Although not particularly common, one-lane concrete roads (9 or 10 feet wide) were built elsewhere in Missouri. They were also constructed in other states such as Oklahoma—home to a stretch of Route 66 nicknamed the “Sidewalk Highway” for its narrow appearance.
For the full “Southeast Missourian Online News” article, please go to: http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/pavementends/entry/65752.
FOR ADDITIONAL ISCP ARTICLES SPOTLIGHTING HISTORICAL CONCRETE PAVEMENTS, please go to:
April 2016: Canada: The Ministry of Transportation 1916-2016—100-Year History Includes 1st All-Concrete Highway
March 2016: A 100-Year History of Paving, Compaction, Milling Iron
February 2016 ISCP Artilce: ISCP Co-Sponsoring Commemoration: 125th Anniversary of the First U.S. Concrete Pavement, to be Held April 25th
February 2016 ISCP Article: Short Street in Oklahoma City has Long 106-Year History
September 2015: First Concrete Mile in New Jersey, USA, Receives Makeover
July 2015 ISCP Article: 2015 Marks 150th Anniversary of the World’s First Concrete Pavement
January 2015 ISCP Article: 2015 is the 150th Anniversary of the World’s First Concrete Pavement!