Chester Pike at Hook Rd. looking east toward Darby Boro. The building on the right which stood at Hook Rd. was Tollgate #6. Chester Pike was a toll road for some 70 years.
Early Chester Pike History
Chester Pike is one of the oldest roads in Penna. Driving it today you never think of it as a toll road with horse and buggies and that it was once a toll road. Some early history below.
1685
-
Robert Taylor was supervisor for “High Wayes” from “Chester Creek to Croome
(Crum) Creeke,” followed by Bartholomew Coppock for the ensuing year. John Hendrickson was supervisor for Amosland
and “”Calcoone (Calcon Hooke.” Succeeded
by John Bartlesome for ensuing year.
Amosland abutted the Delaware River between Crum River and Muckinipates
Creek (boundary between Norwood and Glenolden Boroughs), while Calcon Hook lay
from there to Darby Creek below Cobb’s Creek junction, and in depth to about
the road under discussion. Calcon Hook
was annexed to Darby Township in 1686, while Amosland became part of the new
Ridley Township organized in 1687.
Muckinipates Creek remained the boundary between the two townships until
the successive formation of the present Boroughs along the Turnpike. Darby Township is first mentioned in 1683.
1688 – The Grand inquest
presents “ye want of a foot bridge over ye Mill Creeke (Cobb’s Creek) between
this County and Philadelphia it being in ye King’s Road” (King James II of
Great Britain was then upon the Throne).
The crossing here was therefore a ford, and we must presume this to have
been the case at all streams, as beyond the necessity of the moment, there was
no real substantial bridge built anywhere until 1708, when this road was
carried over Chester River in Chester (at what is now Third Street).
1690 – Supervisors still
depended on the inhabitants to give their services in mending roads, or be
fined for their neglect. No one seems to
have been paid to do this work.
1691 – The Grand Inquest
presented Ridley Township “for not clearing trees and logs that Lyes in ye
King’s Roads betwixt amors land on Crum Creeke.” There were no vehicles at this time and very
few at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
In 1827, Watson the annalist traveled this road to Chester. The woods were described, the remaining log
houses noted, red clover had but then been introduced to this County. Says he (as to this road about 1747, “Then
the Road was comparatively but little traveled, by carriages scarcely ever,
when but very few existed. The few
travelers who could be meet were on foot, or if on horseback, often having a
female up behind, or if a female going to market, having two great Paniers
poised on either side of the animal. She
all clad in homely homespun and the beast a real Pacer. A chaise you could not see in a day’s
ride. But now (1827) we were met
frequently, by Gigs, Sulkies, and Coaches, shining in glittering plate!”
Deborah Logan, in her “Notes on
Chester,” (1827) written as an addendum to Watson’s Notes above quoted, says
“the former numerous wild grapevines are noticed, of which our Country affords
very great varieties. Charles Thomson
had told me that the most luscious and excellent wild grape he ever tasted grew
in a meadow on this road. (Watson had
stated in 1827 that the numerous wild grapevines noted by Kalm about 1747 had
disappeared).***** At the time David Lloyd died (1731), there were only eight
four wheeled carriages kept in all Pennsylvania, one of which was his chaise.”
The bad condition of the
roads, and want of bridges (no doubt of corduroy or log) runs all thru the
records, mainly for the Townships bordering the Delaware River, and it seems
certain that as described earlier in these notes, the cause of complaint is the
Swedes or King’s or Queen’s Road which is this subject matter. On or after 1692, the question of road
supervisors and fence viewers is left by the Court to the respective townships.
“Chester ye 8th
of the tenth month 1696 we of the Grand Inquest for the County of Chester Doos
present the County for want of bridges over Crum Creek Rydly & Chester
Creeke In the kings Roade according to Law.”
March 20, 1696/7 – “The Court
order this present Grand Jury to Lay oute a Roade way for A Cart from Walter
Fawcet to Darby Bridge: forthwith.”
Here you have a bridge at
Darby! Never a complaint about the Darby
ford or bridge, or the people with reference to one or the other! Always do the people of Chester and Ridley
need prodding to keep this, the only north and south highway, (excepting the
Delaware River) in a travelable condition!
Walter Fawcet’s property was
on Ridley Creek where the Governor Printz Bridge carries Providence Avenue out
of Chester, and part of the present Bullen’s Lane is the original Swedish or
Kings Road. Following the above
presentment, a road was laid out April 10, 1697 from the ford on Ridley Creek
using the said Bullen’s Lane, but striking a new line to Darby “crossing Crum
Creek and keeping along a line of marked trees laid out as straight as possible
with a surveyor’s instrument to Darby Bridge where we end, having respect to
Thomas Fox’s land that is clear.” Fox
owned west from Darby Creek both sides of the present road, so it is a
presumption that this proceeding covered the northeastern route of the present
road at least, and was the forerunner of a more serious move to follow to have
a respectable highway from Chester to Darby.
In 1699, the Court prodded the supervisors of Ridley and Darby “to make
good that new road from Walter Fawcet’s fence to Darby, sixty food wide.”
Again in 1701, the Grand Jury
found it necessary to present the townships of Chester, Ridley, and Darby “for
neglecting to repair the great road between Chester and the Philadelphia Count
line and for want of convenient bridges over the creeks.” The jury also requested that care be taken
for a bridge “over Mill (Cobb’s) Creek, that parts this county from
Philadelphia.” In respect to the width
of roads, the court made the following order which does not appear to have been
enforced: “Ordered, that all cart roads,
laid out by order of Court, and allowed, shall be fifty feet broad, as the two
roads laid out from Upper and Nether Providence to Darby and Caleb’s Mill, and
all others.” (Caleb Pusey’s mill was at
Upland).
It is from the Harrisburg
records that we must glean our knowledge of facts from this period on.
March 19, 1705/6 - A petition
was rendered to the “Leutt. Govern: of
the Province of Pennsylvania and the three lower Countyes, and to his Councils”
by the inhabitants of the town and county of Chester that they were much
impressed by the future advantages and growth of the town of Chester, and were
in dire want for a direct road from there to Philadelphia. Inasmuch as the petition goes on to request
the Queen’s Road (Anne was on the throne) to be laid out from Darby to Chester,
it can again be assumed, and not particularly relevant to these notes, that
that part of the ancient road from Darby to Philadelphia gave
satisfaction. The petition further avers
that the request is “to answer the bridge on Chester Creek.” As stated, this bridge (Third Street) was not
built until 1708, but for years the progressive citizens on both banks had been
building the approaches and fighting hard to divert said ancient road as
described elsewhere in these notes, to approximately what we now know it. (Petition on file Logan Papers Vol. 3, p.
122,
Pennsylvania
Historical Society, Philadelphia.) The
same day, an order was issued by Council to Jasper Yeates, Caleb Pusey,
Jeremiah Collet, Robert Barber, Richard Crosby, and John Hendrixson directing
them to lay out such road, and their return is dated June 28, 1706. (Collet and Hendrixson did not sign). Length, seven miles. In compliance with the order of Council, the
road was promptly laid out, and the Supervisors for Chester, Ridley, and Darby
Townships directed by the Court and notified by the Sheriff to clear the same. (Original plan or draft on file at Harrisburg
in the Department of Highways.)
August 13, 1747 - Two petitions
filed to lay out this road again (now King’s Road as George II was on the
Throne) from Cobb’s Creek over Chester Bridge to New Castle County Line, there
being doubt as to the 1706 road being duly recorded. Petitions read in Provincial Council August
17 and 18, 1747.
September 7, 1747 - The
Secretary reports having searched and found sundry orders relating to parts of
the road.
September 8, 1747 - Ordered by
the Council “That the said road shall be resurveyed and laid out according to
the courses it now runs, beginning at the South Boundary of the City of
Philadelphia, and from thence extending to the Lower Ferry, and from thence to
Darby Creek, and from thence by the Courses described in the recorded return
made in the year 1706 to Chester Bridge, from thence by the present courses
thereof to the limits of New Castle Government.” One jury was appointed to lay out that part
in the County of Philadelphia, another jury consisting of Caleb Cowpland, Joseph
Parker, Joseph Bonsall, Samuel Levis, James Mather, John Davis, Peter Dicks,
Thomas Pearson, and John Sketchley, or any five of them, to lay out that part
thru Chester County.
October 5, 1747 – Report of
Surveyor General that road was laid out as far as Darby, but could proceed no
farther with the jury because the order confined them to follow the courses of
the 1706 road from Darby to Chester, and since that time, alterations had
occurred which barred their following the said order. (The travelled road in some places was 330
feet to 660 feet south of the courses laid down in 1706.)
March 2, 1747/8 – A petition
was read from the jury and sundry inhabitants abutting the route of the
proposed road, to the effect that between Darby and Chester, the road could not
be laid out as recorded in 1706, due to encroachments on improved land, and
deviations through woodland, etc. from the present route. The petitioners ask Council to appoint a jury
for the purpose of laying out the road “in the most convenient place to
accommodate the Publick.” Petition dated
December 3, 1747. The Council, after
inspecting maps of courses of 1706, and as now existed; rescind their order of
September 8, and order and direct the Committee (Jury) to lay the same out “in
the manner it now runs.”
July 16, 1748 – Return of the road
from Philadelphia to New Castle dated July 15, 1749, received and confirmed 60
feet wide, except in Chester and Darby where it is to retain its present
width. Joseph Bonsal and John Davis were
the Commissioners appointed to survey and lay out this road, and this date
filed their return. Signed by all the
jury except Parker. From the description
in the return, Cobb’s, Ridley and Chester Creeks were bridged, and the road
still sported stumps and posts within its limits. (The original plan or draft is on file at
Harrisburg in the Department of Highways).
The first mention thus far found of
tollgates being established on this road was in 1799 when an Act of Assembly
was passed on April 11 to help lighten the burden of our small County, then ten
years old, in maintaining bridges. This
Act authorized the Commissioners to erect such gates for five years, and to
collect toll from all travelers. One
toll gate was placed at Ridley Creek Bridge.
Coach, light, wagon or other
pleasurable carriage, with
four wheels and four horses 25¢
Coach, light wagon, or other
pleasurable carriage with
two wheels and two horses 15¢
Chairs, sulkey, etc. with one horse 10¢
Sleigh with two horses 6¢
Man
and horse 2¢
Wagon
with four horses 12¢
Wagon
with two horses
8¢
Cart
and horse
4¢
Every
additional horse to carriages of pleasure 4¢
Every
additional horse to carriages of burden 4¢
Transportation
in the early days was by horseback, the female, if accompanying the man, riding
“side saddle” on a pillion back of the saddle.
A custom here the middle of the eighteenth century, and relating to
marriages, was for the bride-to-be to ride in this fashion to the ceremony
behind her father, or best friend, but to leave in position behind the
groom. Horse blocks were common – sometimes
formed of three steps – for females to more readily mount behind their escorts.
Freight
in the early times referred to was mainly transported by pack horses, grain in
sacks, sometimes a youth was mounted astride on animal and leading one or even
four pack animals. No great number of carts,
if any, existed in the rural section at the time alluded to, and few, very few,
carriages. Wheels were expensive, so
many farmers hauled grain and produce on sleds, winter and summer, just as some
farmers today use sleds for hauling on grass and plowed bound. The chair later referred to, was a common
armchair on leather braces supported over a pair of wheels. These vehicles were very light, and adapted
to the rough, miry roads, of which the Chester and Darby Turnpike was no
exception.
Some stage coaches made 40 miles per
day (From Ashmead’s History – 1884)
“As recent as January 10, 1834, the
Queen’s Highway between Chester and Darby was so b ad that the mail coach from
Washington stuck fast in the mud below Darby, and had to be drawn to that
village by oxen; while on January 9, 1836, a heavy lumber box on runners, used
as an omnibus between Darby and Philadelphia, stuck fast in a snow drift near
the former place, and it was two days before it could be moved.
“I have not definitely ascertained
when the first stage line was established between Philadelphia and Baltimore,
but Martin gives the abstract of a long advertisement which appears in the
Independent Gazette, or the Chronicle of Freedom, published in Philadelphia,
January 2, 1788. Greenhorn, Johnson
& Co of “the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Eastern Shore Line of Post Coach
Carriages,” state that carriages will set out on Fourth Street, nearly opposite
the old Indian Queen Tavern, during the winter on Mondays and Thursdays of
every week, at ten o’clock in the forenoon, and arrive in Baltimore on
Wednesdays and Saturdays in good season for dining. The passengers on their way from Philadelphia
will dine at the “Queen of France Inn,” kept by Mr. and John Jarvis, twenty-two
miles from the city. In the issue of the
same paper, July 12, 1788, the notice is somewhat changed, and the rates of
fare are given thus:
MILES
L S D
From Phila to Chester 15 0 5 0
From Chester to Queen of France 7 0 2 6
From Queen of France to Wilmington 6 0 2 6
From Wilmington to Christiana Bridge 10 0 3 4
From Christiana Bridge to Elk 12 0 4 2
From Elk to Susquehanna 16 0 7 6
From Philadelphia to Susquehanna
Bridge 66 1 5 6
From Susquehanna to Baltimore 37
Gratis
“The passengers sleep the first night
at Christiana Bridge.”
“In the same journal, issue of
February 11, 1788, the following note is given:
“The proprietors of the Old Line of Stages, have united with the lines
from New York to Philadelphia, and thence to Baltimore, will begin to run on
Monday, the 18th inst. The
stages will leave the New York and Baltimore Stage Office on 4th
Street, two doors from the Indian Queen, kept by Mr. James Thompson, at 6
o’clock on the mornings of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and will return
again on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays each week during the winter
season.”
“At the time mentioned there must have
been rival lines running to Baltimore, that of Greeshorn, Johnson & Co.,
and G. P. Vanhorne, Kerlin & Co. The
following advertisement appears in the Pennsylvania Packet, March 11, 1790:
“PUBLIC STAGES.
“The well-established mail
stages between the City of
Philadelphia and Baltimore
continue their regular tours
respectively from each place
by the way of the Susquehannah,
on Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays. Returning on
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and
Saturdays. To facilitate the
dispatch and arrival of the
public mails is an obligation
indispensable, and every
exertion to accommodate engages
the duty and interests of the
proprietors. The passengers are
therefore requested to be
early in their preparations for the
stages starting, as the most
assiduous efforts are requisite and
will be practiced, to render
general and complete satisfaction.
G.
P. Vanhorne, Kerlin & Co.
“N. B. – Regulations to be
seen in the stage office at the George Inn.”
“Isaac Wild, Jr.,
of Dublin in 1796 visited the Country, and describing his journey by stage from
Philadelphia to Baltimore, he records.
“The driver had frequently to call to the passengers in the stage to
lean out of the carriage, first on one side, then at the other, to prevent it
from oversetting in the deep ruts with which the road abounded. ‘Now gentlemen, to the right,’ upon which all
the passengers in the stage stretched their bodies half out of the carriage to
balance it on that side; ‘Now, gentlemen, to the left, and so on. The performances took place about every
half-mile. If the road was contiguous to
a wood, they just cut down a few trees to open a new passage, an operation
which they called making a road.”
“During the first thirty odd years of
the present century there were several lines of stages running between the
points named, Reeside, Stockton & Stokes, Murdock &b Nasp, and
Janviers’ rival lines of coaches. They
changed their horses and stopped for meals at designated places, and made
certain inns their headquarters. The
large stable yards around the old Washington Hotel (Reeside’s line stopped at
that house), the Columbia House, and the City Hotel (then known as the Eagle
and afterwards as the National), in Chester, were necessary for the change of
horses and coach stopping places. It was
a busy scene in those times when the lumbering stage, with its coachman, in the
wintertime, wrapped in a great coat of many capes, expertly throwing a whip
with a long lash that sounded in the frosty air like the crack of a pistol, the
horses at a full gallop, came into sight, the coach-body surging on its heavy
leather springs, rumbling over the hard, frozen, lumpy road, and at last
turning into the spacious inn yard, the earsplitting blast from the guard’s
horn, which was always blown in coming into the town, brought everyone to the
windows of the houses, for it was something to be regretted, for twenty-four
hours at least, in those days if the stage chanced to go by unobserved. Often, too, the guard, out of very
wantonness, would “toot his horn” just to see the horses in the field, who came
trotting to the roadside fences to look at the passing wonder, scamper at the
noise, and sometimes to alarm the farmers jogging along in the road before the
stage. About the beginning of this
century, at the run which crosses the King’s Highway just below Thurlow Station,
the guard once blew a blast to quicken up a lady’s horse that was ambling along
in a sleepy manner, and did it so effectually that the rider was thrown to the
earth and into the run, receiving such injuries that she died within a few
minutes.”
January 19, 1797 – From American
Annual Register: “The roads from
Philadelphia to Baltimore exhibit, for the greater part of the way, an aspect
of savage desolation. Chasms to the
depth of six, eight, or ten feet, occur at numerous intervals.
A stagecoach which left Philadelphia
on the 5th of February, 1796, took five days to go to
Baltimore. The roads are in a fearful
condition. Coaches are overturned,
passengers killed, and horses destroyed by the overwork put upon them. In winter, sometimes, no stage sets out for
two weeks.”
Travel and transportation on the old
Pike was on considerable proportions, with inns and taverns at convenient intervals
to relieve the wants of the travelers, to feed, water, stable, or change the
horses, and to accommodate those on long journeys bent who desired no night
conveyance. “At night the yards of these
taverns would be filled with teams, the horses standing on each side of the
tongue, on which a trough was placed.
The Teamsters carried their beds with them, and at night spread them on
the barroom floors, or in rooms appropriated for that purpose. Some of these public houses were known as
stage taverns, and others as wagon taverns, the stage taverns being generally
somewhat ore pretentious than the others these public houses were, as a
rule, remarkably well kept, and had a good class of landlords, generally the
owners. When the Pennsylvania Railroad
went into operation in 1838 (in 1831 as the Philadelphia and Delaware County and
Southwark Railroad Companies; in 1836 as the Philadelphia Wilmington and
Baltimore Railroad Company; and at a later time, the Philadelphia Baltimore and
Washington Railroad Company) it took travel and transportation of merchandise
from the turnpike, and as a consequence the income from tolls fell off rapidly,
and the glory of the numerous hostelries waned year by year.”
There are numerous accounts in our
local histories respecting the Revolutionary movements of troops over the
Turnpike, and of incidents relating to the taverns or inns, but lack of time
and space forbids these subjects being added to these notes which are intended
more as a historic sequence of events having to do with the development of the
road itself.
The Heritage Commission of Delaware County presents: Finding Your Delco Roots
Genealogy Seminar
Speakers:
· Barbara Selletti, genealogist
· Margaret Jerrido & Judith Giesberg, Last Seen: Using Information Conduct African American Genealogy Wanted Ads to
· Local Research Center
Saturday, March 28, 2020
8:30 am - 12 pm
County Council Meeting Room
First Floor, Government Center
Media, PA 19063
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