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| A Brief History | |||
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In October of 1916 at their annual meeting, the Supervisors of Leelanau County adopted a resolution ordering "that the question of adopting the County Road System be submitted to a vote of the electors of the county at the election to be held the first Monday in April 1917." After the popular vote passed, the Supervisors appointed the first three Road Commissioners for Leelanau County: Elmer Billman, Chairman; Clinton B. Fisher; and Marcus Hoyt. The Leelanau County Road Commission first met on June 26, 1917 in Leland, Michigan. According to the minutes, the “Object of meeting being, to confer with Board of Supervisors, upon various road matters, to endeavor to agree upon plans and manner of proceeding with construction of, and also to ask the Supervisors to provide means of paying for services of Surveyor and necessary help, for survey of roads.” Fourteen years later the Fourteenth Annual Report (October 1930) showed that the County Road System in Leelanau County consisted of 32.9 miles of unimproved road, 105.35 miles of gravel road and 8.0 miles of 1” Bit. Retread. During the winter of 1929-1930 the Road Commission maintained a total of 66 miles of “winter roads” that were snowplowed on a regular basis. The records showed that snow fence was regularly erected each fall and removed each spring along many of these routes. The total cost of winter maintenance was $4853. Each Township also had its own system of local or township roads (such as Solon Road, Lincoln Road, Tower Road, Schomberg Road and Setterbo Road). These local roads were financed entirely by the respective Township with the funds raised by property taxes of up to 5 miles. Stories were often told of farmers “working off their road tax” by using their team of horses to haul gravel or pull a drag along a road to smooth it out. In 1931 the Legislature passed the Township Road Tax Relief Law (otherwise known as the McNitt-Holbeck-Smith Bill), Act No. 130, Public Acts of 1931, instituting a dramatic change. A total of 441.4 miles of Township Roads were to be consolidated into the County Road system over a period of six years. The act also provided uniform, statewide funding to reduce the burden on the property tax. Through the years many more miles of road have been improved. Currently the Road Commission maintains 170 miles of primary roads and 425 miles of local roads. Approximately 80% of these miles are paved. Approximately 50 miles of county roads are seasonal roads that do not receive snowplowing service. Most of these miles are 2-track roads, a reminder of what most county roads were like in the 1920’s. |
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This page last updated on 4/24/2006.