A Sidewalk to Nowhere

On a Sidewalk to Nowhere

or,

An Essay in Honour of the Teaparty's Grass-roots Triumph
Election Day, 2010
with a reminder that the Grass-roots Victory is Incomplete

James Duvall, M. A.
Director of Political Research and Analysis
Big Bone University

It is amazing how much things change, given a little time.  I saw an article in the Boone County Recorder just a few days after the election “Boone to Build Sidewalk near School” (BCR, 4 Nov 2010, p. A-10.), which brought to mind another sidewalk, also built to a school in Burlington almost one hundred years ago.  The contrast in the two sidewalks and the means of financing them could not be greater.  It was quite different in those long ago days when difficult things were accomplished at the grass-roots level.

Burlington, today, is the only unincorporated county seat in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  This is interesting because it is, in fact, one of the oldest towns in the State.  It was established, according to law, in 1800, as our county seat, and has had a continuous existence since then.  After the Civil War, during which the locals were browbeaten by the Yankees, interest in maintaining the town government was not sufficient to keep the enterprise going, and the town ceased to elect trustees to form a city council.  In 1876 the town was reincorporated by the Kentucky General Assembly, but again, some years later, interest waned, and the charter was allowed to lapse.  It is of interest that this charter was revived again, much later, for the sole purpose of building sidewalks.

Burlington always had too many streets for the size of the town.  Hogs were allowed to run freely; but this was also true in Cincinnati back then.  The streets were pure mud whenever it rained, and it seems the only relatively dry place to walk was in the middle of the street between the two pairs of ruts made by the passing horses and wagons.

J. A. Caywood became principal of the Boone County High School in Burlington in 1914 .  His first assignment was to level the ground around the schoolhouse, and to build a sidewalk to the school, so that the students could walk to school safely, rather than in the mud; walking in the middle of the street included the danger of being run over by horses.  Superintendent Edgar C. Riley, who gave the assignment, suggested that a walk extending from Col. R. S. Crisler's blacksmith's shop, about 300 yards away, would result in much better conditions.

The Parent's Association of the school, under the leadership of Mr. Caywood, organized a bazaar and raised the money necessary to do the grading, and to buy the lumber necessary to build the sidewalk.  The shop class, taught by R. H. Carter, a local minster and teacher, built the “boardwalk” between the school and the blacksmith's shop.  This is remarkable in itself, but everyone involved was aware that this was not a permanent solution.  The Burlington Literary Society, a notable organization in the town, agreed to raise money for more permanent walks by staging plays in Burlington, Belleview, Petersburg, and Florence. There seems to have been no limit to the public-spiritedness of the citizens.

At this point Superintendent Riley, himself a minister, a lawyer, and a director of the Burlington Bank, pointed out to Caywood that this method would never raise sufficient money to complete the project.  He suggested that the town charter be reactivated to raise funds for the purpose.  Judge Perry Cason agreed to appoint five members to act as a Board of Trustees for the town.  The Board then appointed committees, and agreed to levy a tax to build the desired sidewalks.  Note that the project was expanded to include sidewalks for the entire town.  The incorporation and the necessary publicity was done with a great deal of enthusiasm, and but little opposition. 

The sidewalks were completed about 1916.  However, soon afterwards interest in the town government decreased noticeably, and it was difficult to get together the quorum necessary for business.  The reactivated charter was allowed to lapse, and no election was ever held again for a new Board.

The sidewalk, like the current project, was for the safety of the students, but, unlike today, the students worked to get their sidewalk.  (To think of it!)  This is a moving tribute to the power of citizens to take the initiative in solving their own problems.  This early civics lesson taught the students, and the community, the value of personal and political action, the power of community involvement, the strength of organization, and the place of hard work.

Today our Federal government is paying $250,000 to build a sidewalk here in Boone County.  This is the third time for such a sidewalk to be built here under the program.  It is my opinion that the Federal government should have better things to do than spend $750,000 on sidewalks in Boone County.  I am not proud that our current Fiscal Court voted 4-0 to accept the grant. (If we don't take the money someone else will get it!  Let them have it!  The madness must stop somewhere!  Why not here!)  Have we forgotten how to do things ourselves?  I suppose it must be a good thing to build sidewalks so little feet will be safe.  It was a good thing in 1914, and there is no reason it shouldn't be so in 2010.   However, what a difference in what the children whose feet will take that sidewalk will think (if they bother to think at all) about the role of government in providing that walk.  Some people think that if we object to the Federal government doing something, that we object to it being done at all. 

That is certainly not what I think.  It is my opinion that all such projects should originate, and be paid for at the local level.  Americans of that generation certainly thought so, and I can't help thinking that the students and their parents who were involved appreciated the sidewalk more since they had built, and raise the money themselves.  It is true that in the end the sidewalks were paid for with tax money.  But consider how much more efficiency, and how much more involvement there was in the decision, and how little governmental growth was necessary to accomplish the desired end. 

The citizens created just enough government for the purpose.  When the sidewalks, many of which are still in use today, were completed, they neglected the instrument they had brought back to life, and let it atrophy, and disappear, contradicting the often held idea that government always grows bigger on its own.  That they were right in their feeling that more government was unnecessary, once it had accomplished its appointed task, is proved by the fact that, from that day to this, Burlington has never been incorporated, and apparently has never felt the need to bring this vanished ghost back into being.

How should we pay for sidewalks today?  If you think the government should be about decision and policy, rather than about sidewalk building, perhaps you should consider joining the Grass-roots Teaparty of Boone County.  I would like to know how much it costs to administer $750,000 in sidewalk funds.  My research indicates that the figure is probably about $250,000 plus the inconvenience of a “standing army” of bureaucrats who will build sidewalks to anywhere to keep such programs going.  The Teaparty meets every Monday at 6:00 p.m. at SubStation II on Dream Street in Florence. 

It is my belief that building sidewalks is a good thing, but once you start down the Big Government route to building them you are on a long sidewalk to nowhere.

James Duvall, M. A.
Director of Projects and Excavations
Big Bone University
Nec ossa solum, sed etiam sanguinem.

7 Nov 2010.

Information for this article was drawn from my massive and unpublished manuscript: 
Burlington Encyclopedia:  The First 200 Years, 1800-2000.
(To be published by Big Bone University Press within the next 200 years.)

Note:  This essay may not be used in any form, either in whole or in part, by the Boone County Public Library, Burlington, nor be retained in their files.