page_title: Iowa Highway 62
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Iowa Highway 62 / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Nathaniel Butterworth House This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 92000909
context_page_description: Iowa Highway 62 is a 19-mile-long state highway in eastern Iowa. The highway begins in Maquoketa at Iowa 64, goes through Andrew, and ends in Bellevue at U.S. Highway 52 a few yards from the Mississippi River. The route has been on the primary highway system since the network was created in 1920. The road was graveled in the late 1920s and paved some 30 years later. It is called the Ansel Briggs Highway in honor of the first governor of Iowa who lived in Andrew during his term in office.
context_section_description: On the first map of primary roads published by the Iowa State Highway Commission, Primary Road No. 62 (No. 62) was shown connecting No. 20 at Fulton to Bellevue.  Within a couple years, the road was rerouted from Fulton to begin in Maquoketa.  Aside from straightening the route in a few locations, the routing remains the same today as it did in the 1920s.  In September 1925, a memorial plaque was installed in Andrew next to a tree purportedly planted by Ansel Briggs, the first governor of Iowa, who lived in the town during his term in office.  Governor John Hammill suggested to the Ansel Briggs Memorial Association that they establish a memorial highway to honor Briggs.  Local business leaders supported the idea immediately and even suggested Briggs's memory would be best honored by a paved road.  By the end of the year, the Jackson County Farm Bureau also supported the memorial highway.
  In 1927, Jackson County voters approved a $1 million bond (equivalent to $11.8 million in 2018) for the improvement of highways in the county; Iowa 62 was expected to be upgraded to a gravel road.  The bond vote was not without controversy.  A state senator, who opposed the bond, was charged with assault after allegedly slapping the face of the editor of the Maquoketa Excelsior after the newspaper published an unflattering story about the senator's opposition.  The highway was graveled within two years.  In 1956, a 650-foot-long (200 m) steel and concrete bridge over the Maquoketa River replaced an adjacent 80-year-old span.  Paving work between Maquoketa and Andrew began in May 1959.  A contract for paving the final 10.4 miles (16.7 km) of road between Andrew and Bellevue was let in 1960; work continued through the next year.  The 1962 Iowa highway map showed the highway as fully paved.
caption: The Nathaniel Butterworth House is on Iowa 62 north of Andrew.
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