Front Cover . . . 



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IXTEENTH in our series of picturesque 

 and historic Illinois scenes is the bank 

 at Shaw ncetown in Gallatin county. It 

 was built by the state in 183S as suc- 

 cessor to the first bank in Illinois whicii 

 was erected in 1816. just two blocks away. 

 The first bank in Illinois was also the first 

 in the Northwest territory. It .still stands. 



The 1 lO-yc.ir-old liank is three stories high 

 .ind 40 feet by 6() feet. It cost in the neigh- 

 borhood of $90,001). Wlicn it was erected, 

 Shawneetown was a busv river trading center. 

 Since then the town has declined in importance 

 and the bank appears immense for the size of 

 the community. 



• • • 



The impressive Doric sandstone columns 

 fronting the bank were floated down the Ohio 

 River from Pittsburgh on a flat boat. Note 

 the dark stain on the lower half of the col- 

 umns. When the Ohio River flooded tlie 

 town in 1937 it rose nearly halfway up the 

 columns and stained the sandstone. 



Best known tale about the bank, which may 

 be fact or fiction, is the story about representa- 

 tives of tlie infant city of Chicago riding on 

 horseback to the bank at Shawneetown to 

 negotiate a loan of 51,000 for the develop- 

 ment of the city. Tiie Shawneetown bankers 

 got an independent report on Chicago and its 

 prospects and refused to make the loan. The 

 .stor)' goes that Chicago was too far from 

 Shaw ncetow n and would never amount to any- 

 thing. 



» 



GOOD RURAL ROADS 

 NO DREAM HERE 



HERB KILTZ was in the otTice thc- 

 othcr day .md \vc had cjiiitc a 

 talk about tlie roads in his town- 

 ship in McHenry county. Herb 

 is a member of the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association road committee. 

 He has lont; been interested in t'arm- 

 to-higluvay roads, and loves to talk 

 about tiicm. It was not hard tor iiiin 

 to .show me wliy the roads are t;ood 

 in Dorr township. 



He had .some very interesting figures. 

 He said his township has good roads 

 because it has a cood roaii lOmmission- 



By CHARLES S. MAYFIELD, Director 



lAA Road Improvement Deportment 



er. modern road equipment, and a road 

 income tliat allows full use ot this 

 ecjuipment. 



Part of the township's et|uipment is 

 shown in tlie picture. This equipment 

 together with three snow plows and 

 other miscellaneous items represent an 

 investment of over 522.000. 



Both Martin I.adefoged. township 

 road i-ommissioner. and his brother lim 



tM'f 



Port of the road equipment of Dorr township in McHenry county is shown above. Three 



snowplows and other miscellaneous equipment are not shown in this picture. Left to right: 



Martin Ladefoged, road commissioner; Herbert Kiltz, member, lAA road committee; and 



Jim Ladefoged, township road district employee. 



are expert road men. They put in full 

 time on the i8 miles of township road. 

 They are also expert mechanics and 

 take excellent care of the equipment. 

 They work the entire year. 



Their annual township road and 

 bridge money is sufficient to buy mate- 

 rials for surfacing the roads. The 

 township money comes in as follows: 



Road and Bridge Tax $ 9,000 



Gravel Tax _ 11,000 



Blacktop bond issue tax 13,000 



Township road income $33,000 



Herb lauglied and said it would seem 

 that his township has no road problem. 

 Some folks might wonder just why the 

 lAA has appointed a committee to 

 study Illinois road problems. Then 

 Herb tapped the desk with his pencil 

 and explained what he was thinking 

 about. Here it is: 



"How many townships in Illinois 

 can afford an investment of over S22,- 

 000 for equipment.'' How many can 

 hire two expert men, and pay for the 

 upkeep of equipment and road mate- 

 rials necessary to keep the men and 

 equipment busy all year.' How many 

 townships in Illinois are able to spend 

 533,000 a year on township roads.' 

 Present day prices for equipment and 

 buildings to house it, will probably 

 run between S3'>,000 and 5-^0,000. Road 

 materials have almost doubled in 

 price." 



Herb suggests you compare your 

 township road setup with his or check 

 it with others. If you do this, you will 

 begin to see where the road problem 

 exists. Then if you can find the answer, 

 we would appreciate having it. We 

 need to have more people thinking 

 about tarm-to-highway roads on a scale 

 larger than just their own locality. 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



SEPTl 



