In 1916 the Washington County Board of Supervisors proposed the construction of 144.6 miles of paved roads throughout the county. In June 1916 voters approved a $950,000 bond, and in 1917 C.G. Kershaw of Birmingham, Alabama, was awarded the first contracts. Among the first of these roads to be constructed was Highway 1, which stretched from Greenville to Glen Allen. This section of road running from Longwood to Chatham is a portion of the original Highway 1.