PAY AS YOU GO: TOLL ROADS BROUGHT COUNTY INTO THE 1900s

JACKSON -- A remnant from when roads were owned by companies instead of by the government stands at 816 Old Cape Road.

The structure is the last tollhouse still standing of many that controlled the system of toll roads crisscrossing Cape Girardeau County during the last half of the 19th century.

The tollhouse was built in 1890 to collect tolls along the Cape-Jackson Road, perhaps replacing an earlier tollhouse at the corner of Bainbridge and Old Cape roads. Another artifact of the era, a mile marker used on the road, sits in the yard of the historic Oliver House in Jackson.

The county needed toll roads then because the federal government was not providing enough money to build the roads needed for expansion. "A big issue was whether federal dollars should be used for internal improvements," says Dr. Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast. "That was really controversial."

Subsequently, both state and federal governments began issuing charters to private companies to build and maintain roads.

"People were moving in here, but the land was not that valuable," Nickell says. "Internal improvements had to be done by private enterprise."

The Cape Girardeau Macadamize and Plank Road opened in 1853, one of five chartered toll roads that eventually would run into and out of Cape Girardeau. The others were: the Cape Girardeau-Judan Creek Road, extending north 2 miles; the Rock Levee Road, established in 1855, running from South Sprigg Street and crossing Big Swamp eventually to Kelso; the Cape Girardeau-Bloomfield Rock Road, which began at Sprigg and Good Hope; and the Cape Girardeau-Appleton Gravel Road opened in 1868 and extending from Water Street, out Bend road and 30 miles to Appleton.

The charters usually expired after 30 years, at which time the counties often took over the roads and charged tolls to maintain them.

Most of the roads consisted of crushed stone or gravel. The Cape Girardeau Macadamize and Plank Road ran from Cape Girardeau to Bollinger's Mill in Burfordville. The original first tollhouse was at a saloon called the Last Chance near the corner of Harmony and Pacific streets, later moving near the current entrance to Arena Park. The route followed the road to Old McKendree Chapel into Jackson, where an eastern tollhouse was erected first at Bainbridge Road and later at the current address of 816 Old Cape Road. The third Jackson toll house was near the intersection of West Main Street and Highway 72, where Old Toll Road begins. That toll road continued on to the covered bridge at Burfordville.

Sample per-mile tolls on one unspecified road were: 1-cent each for sheep and hogs, 3 cents each for horses, mules and cattle and 5 cents for people. The charge was 25 cents for a four-horse wagon or a buggy with passengers.

Exemptions from paying tolls were made for the military, parades, funeral processions and persons going to the polls or to church. It was not unknown for people who were not going to church to carry a Bible anyway.

The original tollhouse on Old Cape Road in Jackson is covered with blue-green siding now. Nothing suggests its historical role except its abrupt proximity to the road. The house has been occupied for almost 15 years by Ruth Baker and her son, Sean Monnat.

Tollhouses were small frame structures that included a summer porch. A long hickory pole extending horizontally over the road restricted entrance until the toll was paid. The pole was retracted by a rope and metal chain extending into the tollroom of the house. Tollgate keepers had to keep vigil to make sure everyone paid.

The Civil War added impetus to the need for better roads.

"There has always been a connection between defense and transporation," Nickell says.

President Dwight Eisenhower was motivated to establish the interstate highway system because as a young military officer in World War I he was assigned to assess the country's highways for their ability to move men and materiel. "He was shocked by what he found," Nickell said.

Part of the region's transporation problems were due to the low and swampy terrain. Road builders could not macadamize on slopes and inclines. As late as 1929, travelers could not leave Cape Girardeau without driving on a gravel road.

But the toll roads made it possible for Cape Girardeau County to enter the 20th century on solid ground despite the isolation the terrain tended to promote.

"This was an area shaped by transporation," Nickell says. "Its economic development is tied very closely to the development of transportation. That has always been the case."