State Route 8, more familiarly known as the Corn Belt Route, was constructed in the El Paso area in 1923-24, and was later designated U.S. Route 24. In 1951 the road between Gridley and El Paso was completely rebuilt. The Meridian Highway, formerly Route 2, now U.S. Route 51, was built in 1924. It was widened and blacktopped in 1951.
E. A. Childs, supervisor for El Paso Township, proposed the first bridge over the Mackinaw River, south of Kappa, in 1907. Prior to that time the river crossing was at the old mill ford to the west. There was a legal dispute over the responsibility for financing the bridge between the two counties, Woodford and McLean, but that dispute was eventually settled.
The contract was let in December 1909 for $8,090, and was completed in June, 1910. However, grading of the approaches so it would be used was not completed until late winter. A second bridge was built in 1923 as a part of the hard road project, and cost $43,000. In 1960 U.S. Route 51 was relocated, by-passing Kappa by curving diagonally from one mile west of the village to a point south of the Mackinaw River. Fill for the new bridge over the river made the road much higher than the old one. The bridge and new road cost over $1,000,000.
-53-