wide interest. It proved a fine improvement over the previous dust clouds, so the program was extended annually.

A contract was let March 9, 1915 to I. D. Lain of Bloomington for the paving of thirteen more blocks with brick. Work began in May was repeatedly interrupted by rain, and it was not until September 24, 1915 that these streets were opened to traffic.

Oiling the city streets had proved such an improvement that the plan was extended to the rural roads leading into El Paso in 1915. The road between Gridley and El Paso was oiled by the cooperation of business men in both towns. The program of oiling roads was gradually adopted and extended by township and county officials and was widely used prior to the spreading of gravel on these roads.

In November, 1922 the city council awarded I. D. Lain a contract for fifty-six blocks of cement paving which was poured in the summer of 1923. Since the state had established its present system of hard roads by then, that part of Main Street became a joint project between city and state officials, the city paying $10,708 for its share of the four blocks. A single block on Second Street between Sycamore and Summit was paved in 1926.

An eight foot strip along the T. P. & W. railroad was leased from them in 1931 so the three Front Street blocks between Sycamore and Cherry could be widened, allowing parking on both sides of the street. The railroad was released from some remaining paving assessments in exchange for the lease. Except for this release, they had paid for one-half of a full mile of paving along their right-of-way in El Paso. Kammerer's poured this concrete slab at considerably less than the estimated cost of $2,300, and the street was opened for traffic July 4, 1931.

In the late 1920's and early 1930's auxiliary streets in El Paso were covered with gravel, the town using its share of the two per cent gas tax levied by the state for this purpose. Oil was later spread over the gravel base, providing a better road and eliminating dust. Between July and October, 1951 forty blocks were graded, graveled and oiled at a cost of $6,500.

Central Street between Front and First was widened along the Central ground in June, 1940, and the street corners rounded, providing easier traffic and parking. Sidewalks were laid through the two parks, replacing older ones, under the direction of Ira Hamm, engineer.

In 1949 one-half of the gas tax normally due El Paso was relinquished to the state in payment of our share of the costs of a new Main Street paving on Route 24.

El Paso Post No. 6026 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars sponsored a new parking lot in September, 1940. The area along the T. P. W.

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