Sam Fleming
Rotary Highway Project
Notes:
• 1923: "At the end of July, the New Roads Committee, now chaired by Sam Fleming, had some great news to share.
Fleming 'stated that he was informed that the survey of the Meridianville Pike would begin within three weeks, and it appeared the highway departments of Tennessee and Alabama were working in harmony and the paved highway from Huntsville to Fayetteville and eventually through to Nashville would be the result of the conferences recently held at Fayetteville and Huntsville by the two Rotary clubs and highway department officials.'
Thus the fabled 'Florida Short Route' (U.S. Highways 431/231) was begun when neighboring Rotary clubs badgered their respective highway departments into doing what they'd always promised to do, 'concrete; the existing dirt road.
It wasn't to be the only major dirt road Huntsville Rotary Club helped get paved in those times, it just happened to be the first.
One of those paving projects the club was proudest of was a local street that ran in front of Merrimack Mill, which was supervised by their beloved Joseph J. Bradley.
It's called Triana Boulevard now, but when it was dedicated Nov. 10, 1924, it was dubbed 'Rotary Road' because of the club's determined efforts to keep gasoline tax money at home for just such projects." - Eastering
Related Links:
Notes:
• 1923: "At the end of July, the New Roads Committee, now chaired by Sam Fleming, had some great news to share.
Fleming 'stated that he was informed that the survey of the Meridianville Pike would begin within three weeks, and it appeared the highway departments of Tennessee and Alabama were working in harmony and the paved highway from Huntsville to Fayetteville and eventually through to Nashville would be the result of the conferences recently held at Fayetteville and Huntsville by the two Rotary clubs and highway department officials.'
Thus the fabled 'Florida Short Route' (U.S. Highways 431/231) was begun when neighboring Rotary clubs badgered their respective highway departments into doing what they'd always promised to do, 'concrete; the existing dirt road.
It wasn't to be the only major dirt road Huntsville Rotary Club helped get paved in those times, it just happened to be the first.
One of those paving projects the club was proudest of was a local street that ran in front of Merrimack Mill, which was supervised by their beloved Joseph J. Bradley.
It's called Triana Boulevard now, but when it was dedicated Nov. 10, 1924, it was dubbed 'Rotary Road' because of the club's determined efforts to keep gasoline tax money at home for just such projects." - Eastering
Related Links:
• Eastering - 75 Years of Service: A History of The Huntsville Rotary Club, by Bill Easterling, 1992, page 16.