It was in 1898 on this day that Vermont authorized its first state highway commissioner.

Governor Edward Smith, in a speech before the House and Senate, called for a change in the distribution of Vermont’s road tax money. At the time, the money was divided evenly among towns, overseen by 246 highway commissioners. Smith argued that split resulted in sums that were too small to do any good.

He suggested putting the money into big projects on roads near busy depots. Smith figured increased traffic to Vermont from better roads would generate far more revenue for small towns than their portion of the road tax ever could.

Photograph courtesy the Vermont Historical Society.