The Good Roads Movement: Illinois was a leader in the Good Roads Movement that swept through rural America during the early 1900’s.  Road dragging contests - “sleds” hitched to a team of horses and dragged along the road, packing and smoothing the road surface - were held as part of a campaign to improve Illinois highways.  While communities like Genoa had been linked to major markets by railroads, they realized the need for a good hard road system in order to reach other services and entertainment in nearby communities.