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Responding to Relative Decline: The Plank Road Boom of Antebellum New York

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

John Majewski ,
Christopher Baer  and
Daniel B. Klein
John Majewski
Affiliation:
Department of the University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Christopher Baer
Affiliation:
Assistant Curator of Manuscripts and Archives at the Hagley Museum and Library, P.O. Box 3630, Wilmington, DE 19807.
Daniel B. Klein
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of California, Irvine, CA 92717.
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Abstract

From 1847 to 1853 New Yorkers built more than 3,500 miles of wooden roads. Financed primarily by residents of declining rural townships, plank roads were seen as a means of linking isolated areas to the canal and railroad network. A broad range of individuals invested in the roads, suggesting that the drive for bigger markets was supported by a large cross section of the population. Considerable community spirit animated the movement, indicating that New Yorkers used the social capital of the community to reach their entrepreneurial aspirations.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , March 1993 , pp. 106 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1993

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