The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1938-06-16
The National Pike Or The Cumberland Road

1900, Philadelphia leadership as the
commercial metropolis of the colonies
and later of the republic, had never
been threatened. Then, during the
first quarter of the nineteenth cen
tury, New York City slowly forged
to the front to assume her rightful
position of supremacy because of her
geographical position as the city on
the Atlantic seaboard nearest to the
vastly wealthy lumber and grain
growing region bordering the naviga-
BILE waters of the Great Lakes. AS the
commerce on the Erie Canal increased
in volume, the port of New York so
far outdistanced all other competi-
tors that her leadership from that
day to this has never been in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, searching in desperation
for means of regaining her lost pres
tige as the gateway to the Northwest,
Baltimore, on July 4, 1928, laid the
cornerstone for the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad and simultaneously be-
gan the construction of the Chesa-
peake and Ohio Canal. In 1880, the
first successful locomotive trip was
made from Baltimore to Ellicott's
Mills, Maryland. These events cast the
first shadows of approaching doom
over the Cumberland Road, then in
the heyday of it's glory.
Lacking Repair and Falling Into
Disuse, the National Pike, Reverts To
The Counties For Maintenance Pur-
poses 3S-1SS4)-The National Pike
was completed as far as Columbus,
Ohio, in 1888, but it was never fin
ished beyond Springfield, Ohio. The
new developments in the East were
casting their shadows before them,
The railroad had reached Point of
Rocks, thirty-seven and three-quar-
tiers miles west of Baltimore, in 1886
Appropriations for the road in Indi-
ana, begun by the United States in
1929, were discontinued in 1888. Then
came feverish demands for speed from
the western states and Springfield and
Indianapolis became centers of activ-
ity for construction operations. Only
a few miles, however, were completed
between Richmond, Indianapolis, Cen
terville and Terra Haute.
Because President Andrew Jackson
opposed government-collected tolls
for repairs on the constitutional
ground that such action involved ma
tional jurisdiction over the Cumber-
land Road, the old pike, much Of which
was in bad condition at that time, was
surrendered to the states east of the
Ohio for maintenance in 1885. The
states of Maryland, Ohio, Pennsyl-
vania and Virginia made arrange
ments to finance these repairs with
tolls paid by the users of the road
West of the Ohio, Indiana and Illinois
chose the state-aid method of paying
for the upkeep.
Nothing that could be done, how
ever, was sufficient to turn the ebbing
tide of travel along the old pike and
in 1910, the property Of the United
I States used in the construction of the
road began to be sold. The darkness
of almost total eclipse was spreading
over the turnpike road. In 1850, the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was
opened from Georgetown to Cumber-
land, $50 miles away, but it was never
extended beyond that point. The first
locomotive of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad pulled excitedly into Wheel
ing, on the Ohio River, in 1858. Mean
while, although slower in getting
started, the Pennsylvanians had beer
busy and had completed combined
canal and railroad which reached
Pittsburgh in 1852.
Unable to compete with the newer
and more efficient means of transpor-
tation, the stagecoach and Conestogs
wagon freight-hauling companies or
| Cumberland Road began to lose bust.
ness and finally went into bankruptcy
In 1856 the section Of the road in Hi
nois was surrendered to the State
after a total of nearly seven million
dollars had been spent by the United
States Government in the construction
of the road throughout its entire
length. During the War Between the
States (1861-1865) the old pike be-
came a great military thoroughfart
and of strategic Importance in the
maintenance of mail communication
between the East and West. In 1871
Ohio petitioned the United States tC
free the road of tolls and similar &C.
ton was taken by Maryland in 1878
Finally, the United States Govern
ment, in 1879, discontinued all future
obligations in connection with the