Like people all over the country, the people of Williamsburg enthusiastically embraced a series of civic improvements in the early 1900s. When politicians dragged their feet, mass meetings and civic organizations demanded progress, and the voters passed numerous bond bills. Williamsburg installed sewers, provided municipal water, and built public schools.
The growing number of cars also required government action. The city began regulating auto traffic and paving a few roads. At the urging of Williamsburg resident and state highway commissioner George Coleman, in the 1920s, the city turned Duke of Gloucester Street into a paved boulevard with curbs and a wide median.1
Material in the Special Collections Research Center
References
- Progress Comes to Williamsburg from the exhibit "A Most Thriving & Growing Place": Williamsburg Before the Restoration.
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