Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1899-05-05
TOWNS PROUD BOAST
sLUFFToN, mo-, ThE ASPHALT cITf
or The WORLD.

with a Population Of Five thousand.
ID Has More Than Thre. Miles of
Asphalt streets-stsry of the struE-
EIc Tor Town Improvement.
plufTtun is in size a town Of 5000 in
point Of population and. like hundreds
of other small cities. quick to BOAST and
yaunt of their advantages and their
growth. which always is ''No boom. but
steady and substantial increase Ii
has its courthouse. which is better than
the noighb0ring county seat Its in
habitauts are a grade higher in intelli-
gence. push and energy than those OF
any other town and possess all the other
incentives to braggadocio. No place ex-
lists that is not better than some place
else. Ii it were not so. the people would
all move to the other town.
But BlulTton has one characteristic
and one boast that does not stop az or
binary limits. but is worldwide With
a population of 5000 Bluffton has a
fraction over three miles Of asphalt
streets. more asphalt pavement and &C.
ment sidewalks than any city of its size
on the globe. The assertion is made
| fcarlessly, and no rival has ever stepped
forward TO dispute the claim, sweeping
as it is. says Municipal Engineering.
Prior to 1897 there were no cities in
Indiana and very few if any in the
| United States the size of an ordinary
country town that possessed an asphalt
street. and for that reason new era
dates from the first street that was
built in Blutfton 1t marks an era be-
cause it has been demonstrated that
small towns can enjoy good paving.
and that. too without bankruptcy or
the cnnfiscation of homes. While not
wealthy place--in truth. only the cen.
tr;.l point in rich agricultural section
the city of Blutfton. with over three
miles Of paving built at total cost of
$3.50, coo. has paid over une-half in
cash. and there have been no delinquen-
cies on the first installlnent of deferred
payments The future can only be
judged by the present.
\ history of the inception Of street
building, the struggle of the movement,
its final successful accomplishment and
the results may be of value to numer-
GUS cities that contemplate paving,
asphalt or otherwise Bluifton made its
initial start in 1896. when contracts
were let for sanitary and storm sewer
at cost of $40. 900. The one was II
miles in length. the other six miles,
The necessity of thorough sewer sys.
TEN before paving is so apparent that it
| bars discussion For several years the
subject of better streets TO replace the
old macadam mudholes had been agi-
tated In the spring of 1896 it took on
a more fevered state. and the discus
sion of the respective merits of block.
brick and asphalt became heated. Final
" a committee of five business men-a
lawyer. IA cashier. q druggist. an oil
man and banEer--volunteCred to make
a tuur of inspection at their own ex-
pense and lay before the council the re-
suits of their investigation, They visit
ed the larger cities % the east, with In
dianapolis as their only western point,
and unanimously rendered their verdict
in favor of asphalt.
A short while after the city council
made similar trip, and in the spring
of 1897 ordered the improvement with
asphalt of five streets, two III the busi-
ness portion Of the city and three in
the residence part In the latter was
one continuous avenue about one mile
in length When finished. an over
whelming desire was created in the
hearts of the residents on other streets
and citizens from three Of these thor
oughfares appeared before the council
with petitions bearing the signatures
of over roper cent of the property own,
ers, and the improvements were ordered
J In the residence portion the streets
are 81 and "a feet wide in the business
, portion "A feet The cement sidewalks
ale ) and Is feet wide respectively
: Entirely completed grading side lawns,
, engineers fees and all the cost on resi-
dence property Is from 50. 80 to So. n
/ per lineal foot to the individual proper
ty owner. In the business portion,
: where the walks are extra wide. the
cost was So. 10. 1t il a remarkably poor
business property with frontage of 20
feet that will not stand an assessment
of $l60 For cleaning these three miles
; and more of street the city pays -four
scoopmen $50 per month, total an.
nual expense of S1,440, much less than
the annual repairs ON the old streets,
. With three miles of street and cement
sidewalk, Bluffton makes two claims
5 FIRST that it is the pioneer Of small
: cities in street building; second that il
8 is the asphalt city of the world, size