Guide to the Central Plank Road Company, Tallassee Branch records MSS.0292
Central Plank Road Company, Tallassee Branch
- Publication:
W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama
Mary Harmon Bryant Hall
December 2008
500 Hackberry Lane
Box 870266
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 35487-0266
205.348.0500
archives@ua.edu
- Creation:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2012-12-10T09:44-0600
- Language Usage:
English
- Description Rules:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Central Plank Road Company, Tallassee Branch records
- Unit ID:
MSS.0292
- Repository:
W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama
- Quantity:
0.4 Linear feet
- Dates:
1850-1853
- Abstract:
Charter and organizational information of the Tallassee Branch of the Central Plank Road Company
- creator
Central Plank Road Company, Tallassee Branch. (1850-1853?)
- Processing Information:
Processed by
unknown
- Preferred Citation:
Preferred Citation note
Central Plank Road Company, Tallassee Branch records, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama.
Scope and Contents note
The collection contains the charter and organizational information of the Tallassee Branch of the Central Plank Road Company.
- Access Restrictions:
Conditions Governing Access note
None
- Usage Restrictions:
Conditions Governing Use note
None
- Acquisition Information:
Provenance
unknown
Biographical/Historical note
A plank road or puncheon is a dirt path or road covered with a series of planks, similar to the wooden sidewalks one would see in a Western movie. Plank roads were very popular in Ontario, the U.S. Northeast and U.S. Midwest in the first half of the 19th century. They were often built by turnpike companies. In the late 1840s plank roads led to an investment boom and subsequent bust. The first plank road in the US was built in North Syracuse, New York in order to transport salt and other goods; it appears to have copied earlier roads in Canada that copied Russian ones. The plank road boom was like many early technologies, promising to transform the way people lived and worked, and led to permissive changes in legislation seeking to spur development and speculative investment by private individuals. Ultimately the technology failed to live up to its promise and millions of dollars in investments evaporated almost overnight.
Source(s)
Alabama (localbroad)
Alabama--Industries (lcsh)
Business and Labor (localbroad)
Elmore County (Ala.) (lcsh)
Plank roads (lcsh)
Transportation--History--19th century (lcsh)
Travel and Tourism (localbroad)
Ledger Box 1765