1961 Article on Plank Road

US-16 no longer exists -- it is now known as Grand River Avenue from Webberville through Howell.  When I-96 was finished in the early 1960s, the term "US-16" was removed from maps.

The above article, published in the 125th celebration special edition of The Fowlerville Review gives some wonderful information on the early development of Grand River Avenue.  I sometimes try to visualize what the town would have looked like if the main route had been somewhere close to Allen Road.  Fowlerville has the buildings it has today due to numerous fires throughout history -- if the location had been on slightly higher ground, would the winds have wreaked more havoc and would the town look so very different?  Something to ponder . . .

An additional tidbit of information; in between the times the plank road was being used and it was paved in the early 1920s, Grand River Avenue was known as "the gravel" because of the make-up of the road with stones and dirt.  Imagine the bumpy ride that must have been!