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In the 1920’s, state officials proudly launched a fifty-million-dollar road building campaign with the slogan “Help Pull West Virginia Out Of The Mud”.

Jerry Bruce Thomas: West Virginia was caught up in some of the change that was taking place in the country. It was a decade of tremendous change. The building of the roads had a tremendous impact on local communities. I think it re-oriented even the way people lived and where people lived. People came down from their mountain homes so they could be closer to the roads, which meant they were closer to civilization.

“When the new road was finished, new houses, new school houses were built alongside it. Back in the hills, the old houses and school houses rotted down. Blackberry vines crept over the broken porches and the eyeless windows stared out at the encroaching wilderness.” Louise McNeill