Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 35, Number 327, 2 October 1910 — Page 22

SECTION TWO.

THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUX TELEGRA3I, OCTOBER, 1910.

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BY CARL ACKERMAN. "It Is monument of past age; but Ilk all othtr monuments, It la In foresting aa wall aa venerable. It carried thousands of population and million of wealth Into the West; and mora than any other material structure In the land, served to harmonize and strengthen, If not to save, the Union." Veech. Mala street turns near Ninth and makes a slight curre towards the northwest One hundred years ago there was a large mud puddle north of Main street and when the National road was constructed the contractors built tt around the puddle. Main street retained the curve. Falling heir to auch a road, even though It followed the path of least resistance, Richmond, prosperous and beautiful, accepted the heritage, reformed the old methods, stepped Into tier boots, waded through difficulties until today she stands not only "Panto Proof but the most beautiful residence) city In Indiana. Following the path of case, however, did not cling to the growing city. There were no precedents but a wilderness of opportunity and the first sturdy Inhabitants grasped the latter with eagerness and founded Richmond on the National road. Difficulties brought determination and all combined to complete the road through Wayne county and Indiana and start a town destined to become prosperous by the character of her peqple. Start of Movement. The movement for the National road started soon after the Inauguration of Thomas Jefferson. Statesmen, before tho founder of democracy, realized more and more that the highways of the then 'small republic were insufficient for a progressive, energetic and developing America. A road was needed, to cross the mountains Into Pennsylvania; to the Ohio river. The rapid settlement of Ohio and the no less rapid peopling of Indiana and Illi nois, by Immigrants coming from New Orleans by way of Cincinnati and moving northeast Into these states in creased the Interest.' Economically these western ml grants realised that a link was needed to relieve them of the oppressive prices paid for Imported goods, which came by way of New Orleans. They bad established industries to satisfy their own needs, which made them, so far as possible, independent of the eaat and south, nut aa the country was being rapidly settled, the popu latlon Increasing over a thousand times in a decade, their dependence upon the traders was felt more and more and the demand for a publio road smoldering in the breasts of the people needed but the breath of suggestion to set it aflame. Championed by such ablo men as Henry Clay, Andrew Stewart and Daniel Sturgeon, in the house of representatives and the United States senate, tho movement for a national road took ready form. How Movament Started. It began with the admission of the state of Ohio to the Union and culminated with the admission of Indiana In 181. Illinois In 1818 and Missouri in 1920. Ohio soon after her admission Into the Union provided by an art of tho legislature that a certain part of the money derived from the sale of Buckeye lands should be set aside as a fund for tho construction of public mads up to and within her borders. Indiana, Illinois and Missouri soon after their admission followed suit The lead taken by Ohio and the agitation in Pennsylvania finally brought the matter before congress. Many of the members had been speaking of a national road but It needed a champion. Looming up in more than one way waa Henry Clay. and. ho more than any other man. was the incarnation of the National road. It has been said that the Idea of a National road originated with Henry Clay but Andrew Stewart attributes It to a Mr. flallatln. Whoever the originator may have been. Clay deserves a great deal of credit for hts Indefatigable work for Its construction. On December 19, IS03. the committee which had been appointed to review the situation and report to the senate appeared before that body and reported that the committee thought It expedient to lay out and make a road from "Cumberland. Maryland, to the Ohio river, opposite Steubenvllle." Authority Is Given. After some debate the president was authorised to appoint "by and with the advice and consent of the senate, three dlscrrei and disinterested, cltl- . sens of the United States' to lay out a road four rods in width and to "designate on each side of the road by a plain and distinguishable mark on a tree, or ny tne erection of a I tone stake or monument every quarter of a mile distance. And Section ? : of the bill provided thct at the com- : menoement, of each session, a states'" saeat of the proceeds of the com misctxk ctsnld be f reseated tiat ,eoa-J

the Heart of Wayne County is the Great Thoroughfare, Built by the Government-Glimpse at the Old Taverns Along the Road, Where Hospitality Was Given to Han and Beast, and an Echo of the Old Toll Gate Days.

gress may be enabled' to adopt such further measures as may from time to time be proper under existing conditions." The bill was approved on March 29. 1806 by President Jefferson and the Cumberland or National road was assured. The news of this action was received with much rejoicing by the people and the commission after examining ground from Cumberland to the Ohio river In a "space of two square miles wide reported that the "Inhabitants ....severally conceived their ground entitled to preference." The commission reported on the proposed route. From Cumberland, Braddock's road was to be followed to Brownsville; thence to Washington over the Indian trail and from there to Wheeling, W. Va., or Steubenville, Ohio. The former city won after a spirited rivalry, through the Influence of Henry Clay. Maryland Was First. Maryland was the first to grant permission to the Federal government to construct the road, Pennsylvania fol lowed but conditioned her permission by providing that the road should touch Washington and Uniontown. Ohio followed in 1824. Thus the Cumberland road, so nam ed from Its starting place in Mary land, had its beginning. Congressmen and senators who had backed the bill: returned to their constituents and, were not only vindicated, but feasted' on "ham and eggs." j Not until March 3, 1825 was the question of the extension of the road finally acted upon by congress. At that time a bill appropriating $150,000 for building the road to Zanesvllle, Ohio and the extension of the surveys to the permanent seats of government of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois waa Introduced. In 1827, $175,000 was appropriated to complete the road to Zanesvllle and two years later $100. 000 was appropriated by congress for opening the road westward from Zanesvllle. The road entered Colum bus, Ohio on Friend street Tnen the survey was completed and the Cumberland road was pushed across the Ohio-Indiana line into Wayne county, in 1832. About this time an interesting dlscusslon arose in the halls of congress and, had it been favorably acted upon, would have changed the political and economic history of the United States. The movement and migration of peoples continued from the frontier to the states of Indiana and Illinois Cities were now being formed and the farmer relied more upon the country store. Transportation was Increas ing across the Cumberland road in Ohio; and was even greater from Cin cinnati to Richmond, and thence west The question was the government con struction of a railroad. Advent of Railroads. Transportation was indeed an Im portant thing especially now that the construction of a few railways had given a fresh stimulus to traffic The National road to be completed needed funds from the Federal government Should the funds be voted for the completion of the Cumberland road or should tho money be voted for the construction' of a railway across Indiana and Illinois? Such a question agitated congress. The house committee reported favorably. The effects of this legislation cannot be accurately enumerated. However, It seems probable that had the National government embarked upon this means of transportation, a great deal of the fight against the railways which came later, would have been minimized. The road would certainly have succeeded, as the Pennsylvania railway did a few years later. With the success of a government railroad Innumerable effects would have been produced. But the bill was voted down in the senate and funds for the finishing of the National road were forthcoming. Bids were advertised at Indianapolis for the construction of the road, both east and west to the Ohio and Illinois state lines. The government, almost as fast as the road was completed, had given It to the several states and Indiana and Illinois received it from the federal authorities before It was completed, although it had been graded and bridges had been constructed to Vandalla. then the capital of Illinois. Here the "Old Pike" ended. During more than forty-five years of national expansion, the National road, piece by piece was constructed from Cumberland, to Vandalla at a cost of about $7,000,000. One hundred, forty-nine and onequarter miles across the state of Indiana stretched the "King of Roads" which had been partially constructed by the Federal government and completed by state and county organizations. The federal government spent $513,099 on the road in Indiana Including the expenditure on. bridges and masonry. Entrance to Indiana. The National road enters Indiana about four miles east of Richmond and continues almost due west to Indianapolis. It forms the Main street In Richmond, passes across the White water river to Centervllle. where It again forms the main-street West of this place It rsases through Qerman-

town and crosses the Martindale creek Into Cambridge City. A few miles west of Cambridge City It forms the main street of Dublin, which street Is named after the "Cumberland" road. In the year 1850 the Wayne County Turnpike company, under a charter granted by the state, finished the construction of the National road and operated the road in Wayne county. Robert Morrison was president of the company and later together with Mr. Reeves founded the Morrlsson-Reeves library, the second largest in the state. Later he was succeeded by Joseph C. Ratllff, as president of the Turnpike company, who afterward became an influential member of the Indiana state senate. In 1890 Jackson township purchased the road from the Turnpike company for 4,500 and operated It without tolls. In 1893 Wayne township followed and purchased the road for $11,000 and made passage free. Toll Rates on Road.

Almost from the beginning of the tnn.tmiiitAn nf vstot a ef o faur I cents had been levied on the people who passed the toll gates, which were

situated, sometimes five and some-iold man and this old woman undertimes twenty miles apart. The rate! took the construction of a road around of toll in Wayne county was 2 cents! the toll gate through their own land a mile for a horse and buggy. cent j at a cost of several hundred dollars, for each additional horse and 1 cent ! 8 they could evade payment of toll.

for a person leading a horse. The first toll gate to be construct ed in Indiana was near the Glen Mil ler park, which is considered today the most beautiful park in Indiana. Although the place of the toll gate was changed at various times it remained within a few rods of the Main street entrance. If one journeys across Wayne counHave

ty in any direction one will find the

old toll houses still standing. The gate that obstructed the way can no longer be seen. Often times the gate was a heavy log stretching across the 1 road. The house was of ordinary log or frame construction and the keeper usually conducted a farm In connection with his toll gate business. Tried to Evade Tolls. It Is Interesting to note that despite j the benefits of the road to the people of Wayne county there are those who tried to evade the payment of the toll. West of Richmond on the National road, there lived an old, feeble wom-i an on an old farm, around which is woven one of the first romances of the National road In Indiana. But the romance does not concern us here. The woman and her husband purchased and settled on a farm in this part . u.i- a house and between that place and Richmond a toll gate was established. Every time they went to the city they had to pay toll. They had been prosnprniiQ rn the rvl H farm And nhtactpfl to the paying of the toll. But their objections fell on hard ground. So this i With the National road came the old tavern. An interesting Institution in itself or rather a department of the National road. The Vayne county ; tav - erns were known along , tneir cleanliness and hospitality. First Tavern Here, The first tavern in Richmond was kept by Charles W. Starr at old Fifth street, now known as Eighth and Gained for tKc

HMckinoon Trucl

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Main. The old tavern stood on the

northeast corner. Later it became the Tremont hotel. The second tavern to be constructed In Richmond, on the National road, was between old Sixth and Seventh streets which was known aa Sloan's Stage House. A portion of t'als building 6till stands although greatly Improved. Here the stage of the fifties stopped for the night or for the noonday meal. The noted drivers quenched their thirst with whisky and ale. Today a garage stands aiding tiie hundreds of automobiles that daily traverse the county over the National i roaa. On Seventh and Main streets William Nixon kept a tavern, which later became the Huntington House. It recently gave way to a modern office building. Another Interesting tavern was kept by Joseph W. Gilbert near Sixtb . .. . . m, , , . and Main, formerly Main and Marion streets. This old building stands today, although it has been remodeled at various times and is known as the trnlillV "uutse. aciubd iuo eueei uu tne nortneast corner stooa a tavern 1 a l T J J I TT " .6, Jjder. and known " Weeks corner. Meek bought the building and remodeled u arter tne civil war. List of Local Taverns. Thomas B. Searight in his interest- . Kv ..Tva ri rlt v. Qf tavern8 kept ln Richmond when j the Cumberland road was constructed.

tne roaa iortAfter enumerating the taverns of

Richard Chessman on South Fourth street, of John Baldwin, Patrick Justice and Abraham Jeff eries, he says: "The last westward tavern in Richmond was kept by Christian Company sSsKspsI

Buhl, who came from Germany and his house was a three story stone structure where Minck's brewery now stands." Mr. Searight, who, from his mtnute knowledge of the county, must have journeyed here, came evidently too late to see the old "National" bridge which crossed Whitewater. He speaks only of the large iron structure which now greets the traveler, although he incorporates in his book a picture of the old bridge Two stone abutments are all that remain of this historic structure. Toll Gate Number 7. "Toll gate Number 7," to again

quote Mr. Searight, "was erected at the fifth mile post west of Richmond and afterwards moved to a point near Earlham college. This gate was kept by William Fagan for twenty-three years, and afterwards by Mr. Gardner for nearly ten years. Mr. Gardner is a New York man and one of the best gate keepers on the road. His wife is a cousin of the late Hon. William Windom who was secretary of the treasury in President Harrison's administration." An old Quaker, who bad been connected with Earlham college when that institution was first talked of ln 1837. said that he remembered a time at the old Friends' boarding s "hool, which existed until 1859, when the coUege was founded, when they had some strong butter. For several days it was the same. At last the few Btudents gathered together after supper, took a pound of the butter, and marched with all the Quaker solemnity to the toll gate, dug a deep hole and burled it. "At the seventh milestone," says

Mr. Searight. "a little beyond West Clear creek bridge, stood the shop of Jersey Mansur, who manufactured the f rst axes made in the county of Wayne. When former President Martin Van Buren made bis trip through Indiana, . many persans denounced him as an enemy of the road,' and some one in Richmond, to inflict punishment upon the distinguished statesman for. his supposed unfriendliness, sawed nearly through a double-tree of the coach in which be waa traveling, and it broke near 'Manaur'a ax shop, causing Mr. Van Buren to walk to the top of the hill through thick mud. The author cf this mishap to

Mr. Van Buren subsequently boasted that he had put a mud polish on "Gentleman" Martin's boots to give him a realising sense of the Importance of good roads." An Emigrant House. ' At the ninth mile stone from Richmond were two celebrated taverns, Eliason's and Estepp's. Both Joshua Eliason was. a man of medium size, of jovial disposition, remarkably Industrious and a sealous member of the Christian church. His tavern was on the north side of the road and ln connection with It he conducted two one-story emigrant houses to accommodate families moving west The Immigrants carried : and cooked their own provisions and paid Eliason a certain sum for the use of his buildings. Drove yards were also a profitable feature of Eliason's tavern. He sold grain to the drovers, and after the cattle were turned out put his own bogs ln the vacated fields to eat up the remnants and refuse. "John Estepp's tavern was "on the south side of the road nearly oppov.: ft CI iSKaV-nSsw,

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