Highway Chronicle Chapter IX:
Auto
Age Arrives, Ohio Highway Department Established
The Auto Age
began in Franklin County in September 1899 when businessman Campbell T.
Chittenden bought the region’s first “horseless carriage” from the Winton
Motor Carriage Company in Cleveland. The $1,000 gas-powered vehicle could reach a maximum speed of 33 m.p.h.
Two months
later, inventor Perry Okey built the first automobile in Columbus and
"motored" around the county to much acclaim.
In 1903, 16
horseless carriage owners joined together to form the Columbus Automobile Club,
and more than 10,000 spectators gathered at the Columbus Driving Park, on July 4, to witness
daredevil Barney Oldfield break the automobile speed record by hitting 70 mph
behind the wheel of a Peerless Green Dragon.
To help meet
the challenges of growing automobile travel, the legislature established the
Ohio Highway Department in 1905 and Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles in 1906.
The highway
department initially designated county surveyors to be their representatives in
identifying and repairing roadway problems. They also oversaw the distribution
of state funding derived from registration fees, first collected in 1908, and
the two-cent per gallon gas tax initiated in 1925.
By 1930, there
were 107,000 automobiles registered in Franklin County that accentuated the need
for dramatically improved travel. At the time, there were still 183 miles of
earthen roads and 386 miles of macadam roads that were dusty rut filled
thoroughfares that often turned to mud.
Next Chapter:
Legislators
Lay the Foundation for State and Federal Highways
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