The Sad State of State Road 51

This isn't State Road 51, but it gives you an idea of its condition in the 1920s.
(Image courtesy of the Iowa Department of Transportation.)

Consider, for a moment, the smoothly paved, heavily traveled artery that is State Road 51, and how important it is to getting around the Hobart/Ainsworth area.

In 1927, it was known as Ainsworth Road. Even then it was an important, heavily traveled road, but it was in bad shape. It was unpaved. The Hobart News lamented that it "is gradually going to pieces from heavy traffic and heavy trucks. … [I]n many places the road is worn completely through."

The problem was especially severe in the springtime, with melting snow and rains; at such times, the newspaper complained, "[I]t is necessary to haul brickbats and anything available to keep traffic from stalling and having to haul machines out of the mud. … In places the bottoms seems to have sunk out of sight where there is quicksand…."

In February the Hobart News announced that during the summer the road would receive a coating of "Tuf Tread" from Tenth Street to the Lincoln Highway. Exactly what Tuf Tread was, I don't know — perhaps just a proprietary name for crushed stone or gravel. It was more than dirt but less than concrete.

In late June Ainsworth Road was closed for two weeks to allow for the application of Tuf Tread. Traffic would have been re-routed via the Gruel Road (the road that goes past present-day River Pointe Country Club).

When the work was done and the road re-opened, the Hobart News said the Tuf Tread would "tide over until a concrete road can be built."

Sources:
♦ "Ainsworth Road Thrown Open to Public Saturday." Hobart News 9 July 1927.
♦ "Ainsworth Road to Have Tuf Tread This Summer." Hobart News 10 Feb. 1927.
♦ "Co. Commissioners Look Over Several Roads Last Tues." Hobart News 5 May 1927.