CONVICT LABOR PAVED WEST FORK'S RT. 16 IN 1931

(02/27/2026)

Few Calhoun residents know that convict labor paved Route 16 from Arnoldsburg to Minnora in 1931. Two hundred prisoners were held in a camp located on the Joseph Knotts Farm near Minnora. The quarrying of stone was likely from nearby hillsides. A newspaper account said the road will be of the same type as that between Grantsville and Arnoldsburg, a stone base surmounted by a top dressing of limestone and tar. A 1931 news release said that the grading of the portion of Route 16 from Chloe to near Ivydale would be undertaken by convict labor. The taxpayers of Washington District bonded themselves to the limit for the grading of the road and "will have their patience rewarded by a hard-surfaced road through the district within the next year or two." - Old news collected by Norma Knotts Shaffer

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