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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.

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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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