The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-12-07
LAST OF THE OLD "PIKES.' ,
BRIEF HISTORY OF AN 0LD CON-
 NECTICUT CORPORATION.

pike-How It Came to be Buiit-How
 Derby Met With Sore Disappointmsnt-
 Legal Proceedings To-day Looking to the
 Abolition Of the old "Pike."
 The case of New Haven vs. the Derby Turnpike company will come up to- day in the short calendar of the su- perior court. William s. Pardee. town counsel, will appear for New Haven. and the company will be represented by Wooster, Williams & Gager. Mo- tlons will be made for the appointment of committee to assess damages In favor of the towns interested in the turnpike property.
 Thus 1t will be seen that the matter of the abolition of the Derby turnpike and Its conversion into free highway is gradually progressing toward con- summation, though progress. 1t is ex- pected, will be slow, through the varied interests involved. the legal proceedings being complicated by the fact that there are half dozen towns involved in the matter. As hitherto stated, Judge Geo. w. Wheeler has rendered a decision de- nying the motion to have the towns of Woodbridge and Milford released from being part defendants in the suits pend- ing in the case. There will be no oppo- sition made by the Derby Turnpike company. The company, as one of its chief men has stated to Courier" representative, will make no fight against the proposed change, only de- manding that the company be paid what Its stock is worth. The company bows to the inevitable, the trend of cir cumstances tending everywhere to the abolition of turnpike roads in the east ern states, and in all the old settled states, and the Derby turnpike being now the last remaining turnpike in the Nutmeg state. The company, in behalf of its stockholders, would be willing to let the old state of things remain, as the stock has proved for great many years fairly remunerative and a safe investment, great deal safer than the Coffin & Stanton bonds which proved So dllidSllNS at III St anu idNC tuiitu out so badly. The company, however, says that a published report that it's stock was always a sure or per cent stock is slightly erroneous. Taking it in the long run, 1t has only averaged 6 per cent. The capital stock is $10,000. It pays now about 2 per cent, and the valuation, which is considered fair, is about $12,O0O.
 A sketchdl of the history of this an- cient turnpike is interesting, especially as the corporation dates back in age to near colonial days, and it is the last of the old Connecticut "pikes."
 The New Haven and Derby turnpike was built somewhere about the close of the last century. The charter was granted at the May session of the legis- lature of 179S on petition of Joseph Wheeler and others. The road was undoubtedly finished and opened soon after this. It was about this time that Derby had the turnpike manila In fact, it seems that all parts of the state were building or talking of building these roads. Companies would spring up on paper, apparently flourish for a while, and never be heard of again after the paper had been carefully folded and as carefully laid away in some pigeon hole in the promoters desk Everybody talked turnpike and every body was willing to invest a little some thing So the legislature granted char ters frequently and among these was the one to the Derby Turnpike com- pany in 179S, a cast iron charter which provided that the charter should run out when the turnpike paid the ex- penses and cost of the road and 12 per cent. interest.
 Derby wan anxious for the turnpike as may be seen from the following taken from the town records:
 Sept. 1796-Voted, That Colonel Dan- iel Holbrook, Captain John Riggs and Captain Bradford Steele be appointed a committee to wait on a committee appointed by the general assembly to view and lay out 8 road or highway from the state house in New Haven to Derby Landing, and from thence through to Oxford, etc, to Litchfeld."
 The Derby history says: ''The propo- sition to make this road a. turnpike as far as Derby Landing was entered into by leading men of Derby, Huntington and New Haven, and especially by Leman Stone, who had been mer- chant at Derby Landing since 1791"
 The Ansonia Sentinel, speaking of the '"pike" tells of. a great disappointment which befel Derby, in connection with this enterprise, saying: Much money was expended in building the road. The great argument used in getting the people here interested in the road seems to have been that it would bring the New Haven trade to Derby. The pro- moterswere chagrined when they found that instead of having that result it proved an outlet for produce from Derby and vicinity, which was taken by this means to New Haven and there shipped. The building of the turnpike is said to have marked the beginning of the downfall of Derby as com- mercial center.
 Proceeding, the Sentinel says: "The turnpike itself has very little history. It was built after the charter was granted, some of 1t being entirely new. From then on it was fairly prosperous, the dividends raising some years high CT than in others, but averaging about 2 per cent. When the Naugatuck road was built its receipts dropped away down, but gradually picked up until the dividends were fair again. When the New Haven and Derby road was