1909 News Clipping, "First Concrete Highway Built in the United States"

01

Artifact Overview

Good roads meant good road surfaces. This one-mile stretch of Detroit's Woodward Avenue, pictured here, was paved with concrete in 1909. It was the world's first concrete road.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Photographic print

Subject Date

1909

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

84.1.1660.P.B.35430

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Gelatin silver process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 10 in
Width: 8.25 in

Inscriptions

Caption under image: "FIRST CONCRETE HIGHWAY BUILT IN THE UNITED STATES. In the spring of 1909 the work on improving Woodward avenue between the Six and Seven Mile roads was undertaken by the Wayne County Road Commission. One mile of concrete was laid as an experiment."