The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-12-28
OLD TOLL HOUSE DEMOLISHED.
It Had Stood Between Greenwich and
 Portchester for 15O Years.


 Portchestar for 15O Years,
 The old toll gate house which had stood on the main line between Green Wich and Portchester for the last 150 years, has been demolished to make room for the widening of the highway at the point. It was the oldest house in town and, in fact, the first of it's kind in Connecticut. It stood on a half acre of ground which was purchased recent ly by Judge Walsh, of the superior court of Bridgeport,
 Some time prior to 1792 various com- munities in the state collected money from travellers in order to keep the roads in repair, and in 1792 the state legislature established a toll gate at Greenwich, as follows:
 Resolved, By this general assembly, that there be erected and established by the commissioners on the main or country stage road, gate or turnpike for the purpose of collecting tolls from persons travelling the said road, which toll is to be as follows:
 Rates of Toll.
 For travellers, or pleasure, carriage of four wheels, l shilling 6 pence.
 Same, carriage, two wheels, g pence.
 Stage, pence.
 Loaded wagon, or cart, pence.
 Supply, wagon or cart, pence.
 Single horse cart. loaded, 2 pence.
 Single horse cart, empty, 1 penny.
 Horses, cattle and mules, 1 penny each.
 Pleasure, or travelling, sleigh, pence.
 Empty, sled or sleigh, 119 pence,
 Each man and horse, 2 pence.
 Jabez Fitch, Ebenezer Mead and Wm. Knapp were the commissioners ap- pointed by the assembly to care for the roads, less the toll keepers commission for collecting it.
 Fourteen years later, in 1906, the Con- necticut Turnpike company was organ ized, having Jurisdiction from the state line, two miles west of the toll gate, to Westport, several miles east. It was a private corporation, and had power to compel all passers-by, with the ex- ception of the mail coach, to pay toll. The Boston turnpike, as the road from Boston to New York was called, had several of these gates, there being one each at Milford, Bridgeport, Westport. Norwalk, Stamford, Greenwich, Man. aroneck, New Rochelle and at Harlem Bridge.
 This company collected tolls until 1854 at these rate, fixed by the legislature:
 Man on horseback, cents.
 Sled, sleigh or wagon, drawn by one OK, horse or mule, 10 cents; sled, sleigh or wagon, drawn by two horses, F cents.
 Cows, horses, oxen, 3 cents per head These rates were displayed in con- spicuous place near the gate so that the passer-by might read as he ran. Toll Dwindled. Gradually new roads opened up or both sides of the main road, and many took a circuitous route to avoid the toll Steamers plying on the sound also caus | ed the tolls to dwindle, so that in 1855 the company threw up it's charter anG the toll gates were abandoned. John Addington was the first toll gat' keeper and upon his death his grand daughter, Miss EmeIine Knapp, tool control. After the toll gate was aban boned the house was used as a private residence.
 Many tricks were resorted to in those early days to deprive the toll keeper O. | his dues and many would wait unti l late at night, hoping to pass while h' l was asleep. The gates were alway! open after nightfall, but when the keep CT passed a loaded team and knew tha it wouldn't be back until dark, h. l would sit up until midnight, if neces | sary, to get the return toll.