Description: This color photo shows the unveiling of a historic marker on Court Street, Bellefontaine, Ohio, in 1968. An unidentified man dressed in a business suit is removing the covering from the marker. His right hand also grasps a wooden hammer or gavel. Spectators watch the activity. On the photograph's far left and right are men who are documenting the event with a still camera and what appears to be a film camera. The marker reads: "Oldest concrete street in America. America's first concrete streets were those which surrounded this court house. Concrete was first used in 1891 to provide an 8-foot strip along Main Street where horses were hitched. Two years later Court Avenue was paved with concrete made from native marl supplies by the Buckeye Cement Company, 8 miles to the northeast. The marker was erected in 1968 on the 75th anniversary of the paving of Court Street." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06964
Subjects: Historical Marker; Transportation--Ohio--History; Concrete roads; Bellefontaine (Ohio); Logan County (Ohio); Rites and ceremonies; Streets--Ohio
Places: Bellefontaine (Ohio); Logan County (Ohio)
 

Description: This is a photo of a short span concrete bridge with a concrete road going through a small town in Ohio, ca. 1935-1943. This construction was most likely a part of the Works Progress Administration project, a government office that hired unemployed Americans to work on various government projects from April 8, 1935 to June 30, 1943. In the first six months that the WPA existed, more than 173, 000 Ohioans, including both men and women, found employment through this program. More than 1, 500 unemployed teachers in Ohio found work through the WPA teaching illiterate adults how to read. In twelve separate counties, primarily in southeastern Ohio, more than twenty-five percent of families had at least one member working for the WPA during the late 1930s. By the end of 1938, these various workers had built or improved 12, 300 miles of roads and streets and constructed 636 public buildings, several hundred bridges, hundreds of athletic fields, and five fish hatcheries. WPA employees made improvements to thousands of more buildings, roads, and parks within Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B01F18_008
Subjects: Bridges--Ohio; Transportation--Ohio; Roads--Ohio; Concrete bridges; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Ohio
 

Description: The Fort Steuben Bridge is a wire cable suspension bridge that crosses the Ohio River between Steubenville, Ohio and Weirton, West Virginia. Built in 1928 by the Dravo Contracting Co., the bridge was the first suspension bridge on the Ohio River with a concrete floor. Closed in 2008 due to structural weaknesses, Fort Steuben Bridge is slated to be demolished. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B01F17_042_001
Subjects: Transportation--Ohio--History.; Bridges--Ohio; Transportation--Ohio; Roads--Ohio; Concrete bridges; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Steubenville (Ohio); Jefferson County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption reads "Bridge over Miami River at Franklin, Ohio, 1936." This bridge connects the two sides of Franklin, which was founded in 1796 by General William C. Schenck. This bridge was built between 1932 and 1933 by the Dodge Hussey Company of Columbus at a cost of $120,000. The 4 cast iron lions that decorated the piers of the old 1873 suspension bridge (closed in 1931 due to broken cables) sit at the ends of the bridge. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B01F18_013_001
Subjects: Bridges--Ohio; Transportation--Ohio; Roads--Ohio; Concrete bridges; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Federal Writers' Project
Places: Franklin (Ohio); Warren County (Ohio)