The Importance of Roads

Roads provide access to the outside world or the store around the corner. Roads take farm produce to market and children to school. Roads are the conduit of life's activities. Their maintenance has always been vital.

Ohio has a long history of providing market roads for farms and providing road improvement monies to townships, which have limited authority to raise money for services. In 1913 the state passed a half mill levy to improve main market and inter-county roads and to give advice and support to township trustees for road maintenance by writing and sending road maintenance bulletins.

In January 1914 the Ohio Highway Department issued Bulletin No. 20, Instructions for Dragging Roads and the Road Dragging Law. All earth and gravel roads in the state were required to be dragged; the bulletin instructs the correct grading method for each, and provides instructions to build an inexpensive wooden road scraper to be dragged by a team of horses.

In 1918 Boston Township purchased a road scraper and blade from Galion Iron Works for $235.00. Boston Township citizens hired their teams to the township to drag the road scrapers; township citizens superintendented the work and provided the labor. Horse teams continued to provide the heavy labor until after World War II and township citizens were employed when road work was required. Road maintenance remains a major expense of the township budget.

A copy of Bulletin No. 20, from the township archives is reproduced here: