Illinois State Road 4, known as the "Great Illini Boulevard," was laid through Atlanta in 1922-23 as the first paved road connecting Chicago and St. Louis. In 1926, it was redesignated as U.S. Route 66, carrying travelers all the way to Los Angeles, and this quarter-mile section of pavement remains from that original "Mother Road." Communities strongly supported the project by raising money to buy right-of-way; in Atlanta, promoters asked fifty men to invest $200 each to guarantee the funds needed to secure it. In the summer and fall of 1922, men led by crew foreman Albert Irvin of Atlanta labored with horses and mules to scrape and build the roadbed through town, and after it settled through the winter, concrete was poured. By April 18, 1923, the first work trainload of sand, gravel, and concrete went through Atlanta, and soon a new hard road carried automobiles such as the Model T Ford near town.