Leland J. Kennedy Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

a federal gasoline tax thirty years ago, or not, I don't know. I doubt if there was. I doubt
if there was. There wasn't revenue sharing of course, that didn't happen until later
on. There was no such a thing as that. Of course construction costs were much cheaper
and fuel was much cheaper obviously, and labor and construction jobs, et cetera.
There was the acquiring of the right-of-way. Wcll they filled that in. The Mississippi Line
filled that in. That's all fill-in. I think the biggest part of that is fill-in, with the dredging
and all of that. Now that could have been a federal project.
Q: A Corps of Engineers type of thing?
A: Yes I think so, yes I think it was now that you mention it. I guess the waterways belong
to the federal government and I'm sure that was a federal project, the dredging and all of
that, building it with their - cutting, filling it in, and doing that part and of course the
state took care of the actual construction and the building of it.
Q: Now as far as Grafton - that followed the old railroad route there . . .
A: Yes I think so.
Q: . . . the older part of that I guess didn't it?
A: Yes. They - I guess the railroads - there was some - of course that - I guess that
track's still down in Alton, it goes to - sure that's right. That railroad right-of-way was
used and there was a lot of - oh it was a big news story, areawise. The completion of
McAdams Highway was a major news story. And we were . . .
Q: You said at one time it only went as far as about here. And then it was completcd on
to Grafton, was it?
A: It was completed on to Grafton in the period that I was out. I'm sure that when I got
- maybe when I left in 1954, I don't recall - it wasn't too far up there, if at all. I think
Stevenson - in the spring and summer of 1954 he dedicated a plaque. But it was completed
mostly maybe between 1955 and 1960. I'm not sure of those dates, but I think it wasn't
completed when I left in 1954, but it was completed when I got back in 1962 and 1963. It's
completed now at the Grafton - I'm sure that's right.
Now Route 3 is a different project I believe. I don't know too much about that. That's
what they call the Berm Highway and that's being held up by litigation. They want to go
by the Alton Commons I believe and the Alton Commons is that square down there, and
there is a Landmark Association here in Alton that is fighting it, much to the chagrin of
a lot of people. But I guess they're in good conscience, I suppose. They never bothered
me, the Landmarks didn't, and I - oh I went to one or two of their meetings in recent
years in the 1970's. But they're a civic organization that have a lot of prominent people
in it and of course they get help from the mayor and the city council about their deal on
the Alton Commons.
If you come back home to go back up to Marquette State Park, you go by the flour
mill. There's always trucks down there at the bottom of State Street. You run into a lot
of trucks down there. Wcll I think the Landmarks - I think their original intention was
to put that road closer to the river and back of thc mill. Of course that would have
obstructed the mill's loading facilities. I don't know what happened to that. As you leave
the mill going into town, you know that square down there, when you come up Route 3 from
Granite City, from the depot down there, you've got to come over Ridge Street. Well it's
supposed to be completed up to meet the mill, the road either in back or in front of the
mill, but litigation has stopped that. That's what they called the Berm Highway, but that's