On this day in Alabama history: Alabama Enquirer began publishing
Good Roads Movement began in 1880 as an effort by bicyclists to lobby for improved road conditions in rural areas. By the early 1890s, the movement was national in scope, and by the turn of the century, the focus had shifted from bicycles to automobiles. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Birmingham Public Library Archives)
March 30, 1887
John Asa Rountree began publishing the Alabama Enquirer in Hartselle. The owner of Rountree Publishing Co., Rountree is best known for his work in the Good Roads Movement at the turn of the 20th century. He founded the North Alabama Good Roads Association with Congressman John H. Bankhead in 1898 and the Alabama Good Roads Association (AGRA) in 1906, through which he successfully advocated for the creation of the Alabama Highway Commission and funding for county roads. Rountree and Bankhead later founded the United States Good Roads Association and the Bankhead Highway Association, leading to the passage of the Federal Aid Road Acts of 1916 and 1921 and the Bankhead Highway, now known as U.S. 78.
Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.
For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.
