As early as 1700, the Pennsylvania legislature authorized the building of "King's Highways" at the colony's expense that were to be fifty feet wide. The first, completed in 1706, went south from Philadelphia to Chester and is now known as Route 13. The second, built in 1711, went north from Philadelphia to New Hope, then later to Easton and is now known as Route 611.
Eventually, radiating out of Philadelphia like spokes on a wagon-wheel were a number of roads that evolved into amongst others, Chester Pike, Philadelphia and Lancaster Road, Ridge Pike, Germantown (and Perkiomen) Pike c.1801, Skippack Pike, Sumneytown Pike, Butler Pike, Bethlehem Pike and Bistol Pike. Many of these roads were built as toll roads back in the 1700's and early 1800's. The highway tolls paid for both the creation and maintenance of the road.
A long slender pole, called a pike, was placed across the road to block traffic at the tollgate in front of the toll collector's house. When the fare was paid, the pike was turned on a pivot (hence the term, turnpike) and the horse-drawn conveyance allowed to pass.
Even then, folks wanted to know where they were and far they had to go - so all of the local turnpikes had stone mile markers showing the number of miles from the center of their universe, the City of Philadelphia. A few of these venerable stones remain and there is one near my house on Ridge Pike near Mile Long Hill bearing the number 18.
I spotted this old stone mile marker a few weeks ago over in Green Lane Park:
As I know a lot of people with umm... to be polite, the clinical way of saying it is, they suffer from urinary incontinence, I had to laugh thinking about how they would react to seeing this mile marker.
The next day, I would be in "P", as I went to the Philadelphia Art Museum where the finish line for the Philadelphia Marathon had been set up.
Imagine my glee when I saw literally hundreds of blue port-a-potties lining the route of the marathon.
This is the view from the top of the Art Museum steps looking down the Ben Franklin Parkway toward William Penn's statue on top of City Hall. You can see a row of blue and green port-a-potties to the right of General George Washington's statue.
The fountain in the middle distance in Logan Square is near the "Dinosaur" museum.
A nice collection of photographs showing surviving milestones is (here)
Source of the old turnpike photograph (here)
24 comments:
I never would have imagined that they had toll roads way back then. How interesting! Love the old pic. The sign was really funny.
Very interesting! I guess maybe people had different ways of dealing with "things" back in the old days. I suppose there were always bushes to hide behind no matter where they traveled ;-)
Very cool. Pee....hehe.
Great post. I too have a picture of that mile marker in Green Lane. The kids wanted to know what it meant. That is really a long way to go to "P". Hmmmm, are you making fun of me calling the Academy of Natural Sciences by putting "Dinosaur Museum" in quotes???
i love here and getting my edjucashun..so many great places..here we have the library and it's small czech museum..
Thank you for sharing that little bit of history. I love that kind of stuff and I never knew why they were called turnpikes.
I love New Hope, we got married there...well technically it was in Center Bridge (at the Inn). Great area you're living in, tons of history.
What a wonderful history lesson, and I loved the old picture, I just love looking at those, and thanks for the sharing the pics of places that I have never seen. Thats funny about the 34 miles to P, because I would be one of those poor folks groaning to wait that long lol
I always wondered why they were called Pikes!
Hugs!
I sure learned a lot from this post.
I saw that P sign and had to think of hubby when he taught school. A student with the last name of Quick asked for a pass to go to the bathroom. Her name was Penny. So without thinking he wrote a pass: Permission to go to the restroom. P. Quick. :0
You watched the marathon? How fun! How come when I typed "marathon" I ended it with a G...as in thong...? Oops.
I remember growing up in Pennsylvania and my mom and her sisters/brothers talking about the turnpikes; very interesting facts Iggy :)
love the 34 miles to P; bet they had no idea when they made that sign :)
betty
Nice road history lesson, Iggy.
That sign had me giggling like a dork...it's the little things!
Have a wonderful friday!
Interesting post, Iggy!
Hope you have a good day today, and a good weekend too! *Hugs*
Seeing the "34 miles to P" marker would have freaked me out. :)
Loved the pictures....I always to.
Have a good Friday, Iggy. *hugs*
Love that last picture, were you standing on the Rocky footprints?
hey~ I learned something this morning. I don't think I even asked anyone why it was called a turn pike when I was in PA back in the mid 90s. I WAS surprised that the roads were not in the best repair. The winters must be tough on the roads with so much traffic as well.
We chuckle over that marker in Green Lane Park every time we see it. It's a great piece of history but certainly gets misinterpreted. It's fun to have people stand under the "Slow" sign on the road too. Great pics.
Wow! Thats really old, you wasn't joking there. Great pictures.. one of them reminded me of the movie Shooter it looks almost exactly like it.
-Paul
http://www.mostlygrocery.com
34 miles to P...oh my. Nobody wants to see that when in a covered wagon of yesteryear.
was going to comment on the mel brooks film but no place to put a comment..
it's really weird...i'm watching young frankenstien right now on amc channel..i love all things mel brooks..i even have a autographed picture of him..
Had never known why they called them turnpikes and was quite surprised that they had toll roads back then. But--that's a very democratic way to do it, I guess--the people who use them pay for them. Glad to see your interest in sharing has returned.
The marker--I had visions of kids in the back of a covered wagon asking--Are we there yet? Hehe! :):)
Argg! There was no spot to comment on Cappy's first words and Young Frankenstein. Loved that movie--so silly! Oh Sweet Mystery of Life....
Do you now have a youtube account? How do I get there? :):)
oh my how I love the old photograph, we had old turnpikes or tollgates as we called them here and the old markers can sometimes be found along our country roads....... I love reading each and every one of your posts, they educate and inform and some even almost make me wet me knickers from laffing so hard :)
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