Building the National Road

Banks and Turnpikes

As the population moved west, paths naturally widened into wagon roads.  Entrepreneurial types began buying the land where these roads were needed and formed turnpike companies.  Using bank funds, these companies would maintain the roads, maintaining grades and filling holes in exchange for a toll every few miles.

Among these roads was one built from the port of Baltimore (now known as the Inner Harbor) to Frederick, then extended to Boonsboro, Hagerstown and eventually Cumberland.

The road from Baltimore to Boonsboro was formally chartered as the Baltimore And Frederick-town Turnpike in 1805.  The road had been formed naturally by travelers all the way to Hagerstown, with most routes west to Cumberland following the river or various other trails from there.

The Cumberland Turnpike was formed in 1812 to build a new overland route from Wilson-Conococheague just west of Hagerstown through Hancock to Cumberland.

West of Boonsboro was not officially claimed until the formation of the Hager’s-Town and Boonsborough Turnpike in 1819, reorganized 3 years later as the Boonsborough Turnpike.

Together, these formed the “Bank Roads” connecting Baltimore to Cumberland.

Other roads claimed by Turnpike companies in the area included the Boonsboro and Sharpsburg Turnpike (Rt 34), the Beaver Creek & South Mountain Turnpike (which wound up South Mountain on either side of modern Rt. 40 and in part as Mt. Lena and Beaver Creek Roads),  the Williamsport and Hagerstown Turnpike (southern part of Rt. 11 to the river), the Marsh Turnpike (now Marsh Pike north of Hagerstown),  Downsville & Hagerstown Turnpike (Downsville Pike, Rt. 632), the Hagerstown Turnpike (Westminster – Hagerstown, much of it now Rt. 77), and many others.

The National Road

Newly elected President Thomas Jefferson named Albert Gallatin as his Secretary of the Treasury in 1801.  A position Gallatin would hold for 13 years.  As Secretary of the Treasury, he made several valuable changes to federal money handling, and managed the finances for both the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

A road over the mountains, among other transportation infrastructure ideas, was a pet project of Mr. Gallatin.  Having President Jefferson’s ear he convinced the President of its necessity.  Thomas Jefferson held a political stance that the federal government should not be large or powerful or invest money into infrastructure or other programs, and existed primarily for defense.  Despite this, the two men together championed the idea before resistant legislators, and on March 29, 1806, Congress approved initial funds for the surveying and construction of a wagon road west from Cumberland, Maryland to the Ohio River.

While other routes through Pennsylvania and Virginia had been considered, the presence of the existing road from Baltimore to Cumberland served as one of the deciding factors for the placement of this new national road.  Rather than using taxes, the construction would be funded by 5% of the revenue made from selling land in the newly christened state of Ohio.

Construction began in 1811, after years of surveying and planning delays.  Construction to Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) was completed in 1818.  The original road was graded within precise specifications and then layered with gravel.  At the time, Ohio was considered the untamed west.

The addition of more westward states resulted in a similar arrangement until the road reached Vandalia, Illinois, in 1837.  At the time, the City of Vandalia was the state capital.

Like with Maryland, an existing private road connected Vandalia to the Mississippi River at St. Louis.