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Source: January 1995 Volume 33 Number 1, Pages 27–31


The Newtown Square and Paoli Plank Road

Hob Borgson

Page 27

For a few years in the mid-1850s the road between Paoli and Newtown Square was a plank road. This was a type of road construction first used in the United States in 1846, when a plank road from Syracuse to the foot of Lake Oneida in New York state was opened to traffic on July 18th of that year.

As Albert C. Rose commented in his Historic American Roads, "The advocates of this type of [road] surface made extravagant claims as to its superiority over macadam. They held that it would be relatively inexpensive and easy to maintain and that for smooth-riding qualities it had no peer. ... The plank road type was introduced into this country from Canada where about 500 miles were laid between 1834 and 1850. It was especially adapted to that area where standing trees were abundant and the work of making planks provided work for small local saw mills."

The origin of the plank road is actually attributed to Russia by Marshall B. Davidson. In his Life in America he wrote, "For a few years of the mid-[19th] century the waning interest in turnpikes [due to the growth of railroads] was given a brief boost by the introduction, via Russia and Canada, of sawed lumber surfaces -- the so-called plank roads. The sensation when riding a plank road was described as 'similar to that of riding in a sleigh when the sleighing is good. But "the going" on a plank road was always good ... without regard to weather.' 'The railroad,' reported one magazine, 'is the thoroughfare for the citizens away from home -- for travel; but the plank road is for home use.' They were, without doubt, the smoothest highways built in America until the advent of the asphalt and concrete roads of recent years."

Page 28

Stevenson Whitcomb Fletcher, in his survey of Pennsylvania Agriculture and Country Life from 1640 to 1940, similarly observed, "Between 1846 and 1856 there was much enthusiasm for plank roads. It was thought that these combined cheapness and efficiency. Roads of two-inch planks laid loosely on stringers could be built for $1,000 to $1,500 a mile. The General Assembly chartered about 300 plank turnpike companies, stock in which was eagerly subscribed."

(So numerous were the plank road companies in Pennsylvania at this time, in fact, that in an act for the regulation of turnpikes, approved January 26, 1849, specific mention was made of "plank road companies" as well as of turnpike companies. In the 23 sections of the act is a recapitulation of the provisions for the offer and subscription to the capital stock of the company; the issuance of letters patent; the organization of the company and election of officers; the power to enter upon land to determine the route of the road and the availability of materials necessary for its construction; the assessment of damages; the construction of bridges, inspection of the completed road by "skillful, judicious and disinterested persons" appointed by the governor; the right to appoint "toll gatherers", erect toll gates, and collect tolls as set forth for livestock, horses and riders, and various types of carriages; the responsibility to keep the road in good traveling order and repair at all times, and the procedures to be followed by travelers if this were not done.)

One of the "300 plank turnpike companies" to which Fletcher referred was The Newtown Square and Paoli Plank Road Company.

On January 4, 1853 it was reported in the American Republican, published in West Chester, "Pursuant to public notice, a large and respectable meeting was convened at the public house of George G. Hippie [Leopard) on Thursday, December 30, 1852 for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of forming a company to plank the road leading from Newtown Square to the Paoli ..." Present at the meeting were some of the more prominent men in the area, among them Davis Beaumont, Nathan Pratt, James J. Lewis, Joshua C. Cox, Townsend Speakman, Henry Pratt, and Isaac Waldaman Jr., of Delaware County, and John D. Evans, Owen R. Horn, Jeffrey Smedley, Henry Caufman, Charles Bishop, Reese Pyott, William Hoopes, Phineas Paiste, James Porteus, Reuben E. Lewis, Isaac Ruth, Thomas Nuzum, Hugh Steen, John Workizer, and John Acker, Esq., from Chester County.

After going through the formalities of organization, it was further reported in the American Republican, "On motion by Joshua C. Cox, it was resolved that a committee of five be appointed to prepare a bill to authorize the Governor to incorporate a company for [the] planking of said road [between Newtown Square and Paoli] and forward it to the legislature. The following gentlemen were appointed said committee: Joshua C. Cox, James J. Lewis, John D. Evans, Jeffrey Smedley, and Charles Bishop."

Their efforts met with success, for less than a month later, on January 29, 1853 Governor William Bigler approved "An Act authorizing the Governor to incorporate the Newtown Square and Paoli Plank Road Company".

Page 29

Under its provisions, thirty commissioners, twelve from Delaware County and eighteen from Chester County (among them most of the people who had attended the December 30th meeting at the Leopard), were authorized "to open books, receive subscriptions [for stock] and organize a company by the name, style and name of 'The Newtown Square and Paoli Plank Road Company', with power to construct a plank road from Newtown Square in Delaware County to a point on the turnpike, near the Paoli tavern in Chester County, by the nearest and best route, as stockholders may determine upon, suject to all the provisions and restrictions of an act regulating turnpike and plank road companies, passed the twenty-sixth day of January A. D. 1849 ... excepting "... That sheep, hogs and cattle shall pass over the road free from toll, and that oxen and mules when in draught shall be charged at the same rate as horses, and provided further, That the said company shall elect eight instead of five managers ..." (Why these exceptions to the provisions of the Act of 1849 regulating turnpike and plank roads were made is not explained: presumably they were in the draft of the bill prepared by the five-man committee, perhaps to counteract possible local opposition.)

It was also provided that "the capital stock of said company shall consist of eight hundred shares at twenty-five dollars per share", a total capitalization of $20,000, though by a vote of the stockholders at a meeting called for that purpose the number of shares could be increased as "in their opinion may be necessary to complete the work". The company could begin collecting tolls as soon as two miles or more of the road were completed, and work was to be started within three years and completed within five years thereafter.

On February 15th notice was given by a nine-man committee of the Commissioners that "Books will be opened on WEDNESDAY, the 2d day of March, at Paoli, Leopard, Lewis' Store and Newtown Square to receive subscriptions to [the stock of] the Newtown Square and Paoli Plank Road". The stock, Julius Sachse reported, "was eagerly sought by the neighbors", and letters of patent were issued shortly afterwards. A little over a month later, on March 21st, notice was given that "An election will be held at the house of George Hippie (Leopard) by the stockholders of the company on second day, the 11th of April, for the purpose of electing one President, eight managers, and one treasurer, and all other officers necessary for the organization of said company". Elected president was John J. Lewis, with Joseph Lewis elected treasurer, and John D. Evans, Thomas Pratt, Nathan Lewis, Phineas Paiste, Enos Williamson, Reuben E. Lewis, James Porteus and Henry Pratt comprising the managers.

On May 21st, in a "Notice to Contractors" in the Village Record, it was announced by the president of the company that "SEALED PROPOSALS for grading two miles of the ... road, commencing at Newtown Square, will be received until the 30th day of May".

To furnish the planks for the construction of the road, Sachse noted, "Two steam saw mills were erected to saw the logs into planks. One of these mills was located in Yerkes' Woods about three-quarters of a mile from the village [of Leopard]. It was burned in 1867. The conflagration is said to have been the result of carelessness on the part of "a Hibernian gentleman, who on returning from a 'wake' went into the mill to light his pipe and then threw the match among the shavings and sawdust."

Page 30

(Jonathan F. Yerkes is described in Samuel T. Wiley's Biographical and Pictorial Cyclopedia of Chester County as "one of the leading farmers and successful business men of Easttown Township", and was a native of the township. The site of the old mill was known as "Saw Mill Hill".) The other mill, according to Sachse, "was a portable mill and set up in [William] Wayne's woods that covered the field between Wayne's house and the road"..

"The planks themselves," Eric Sloane noted in his Our Vanishing Landscape, "were from three to four inches thick and from nine to sixteen inches wide. They were laid o top of 'sleepers' or rails ... [and] the American custom was more often to lay [the] planks loose and let gravel and their own weight keep them in place. ... [The] Sleepers varied in size from four by six inches to four by twelve (laid flat) ... Long stone rollers were used to flatten out the road and push [the] sleepers into the dirt before laying the planks on top." The planks were laid on the sleepers, he also noted, with "irregular edges, so that wagons could 'climb' back onto the planks after having gone off to the dirt turn-off to pass another wagon. A smooth edge would have caused the wagon wheels to just slide along the straight-edge, without mounting the planks."

from Our Vanishing Landscape

By mid-summer, on July 26th, it was reported in the American Republican that "The plank road from Newtown Square to Paoli is progressing finely; more than two miles of it will be completed and in use before the next winter sets in."

A little more than a year later, on August 29, 1854, it was reported in the Village Record, "The planking of the Newtown and Paoli Plank Road is completed from Newtown to within a few hundred yards of the Leopard, upward of 3 miles. Two miles of the road still remain to be finished, on which workmen are engaged preparing the ground for laying the plank. This road will be an important link to the West Chester and Philadelphia Plank Road."

The work apparently continued to proceed quite satisfactorily, as at the time of the annual election of officers on December 6th it was further reported in the American Republican that "It is expected that this road will be finished in a few weeks and will connect the Philadelphia and West Chester Plank Road with the Lancaster Turnpike."

Page 31

A week later, in the December 12 issue of the Village Record, it was reported, "The Newtown Square and Paoli Plank Road is now completed -- just in time for the bad roads of winter. The farmers along the route of this improvement now have a continuous plank road to Philadelphia --a luxury and convenience easily appreciated when the mud is axle deep -- or the roads so rough as to endanger the vehicle."

With the completion of the work, Sachse noted, once again the old Leopard Inn "did a flourishing business" and "regained its popularity as a place for dancing parties, [and that] the sound of the fiddle interspersed occasionally with the toot of the horn was again a common occurrence". He also noted that "while the planks were yet in good condition and the novelty had not worn off, every Sunday swains endeavored to own, or pretend to, what was the 'ne plus ultra' of horseflesh, viz: 2:40 on the plank road".

But, alas, the planks were not to stay in "good" condition. As Fletcher noted, "They [the plank roads] were a disappointment. Although the first cost was low, depreciation was high. Heavy traffic broke or loosened the planks and they rotted away." Davidson similarly observed, "Experience proved that depreciation was prohibitively rapid and by 1857, after a period of intense promotion, the idea was discarded."

"This era of prosperity brought about by the advent of the plank road," Sachse wrote thirty years later, "unfortunately did not last long. The planks would rot and the sills decay, the large dividends were not forthcoming, the novelty of paying a toll soon wore off, and as the sockholders refused to sink any more money in the enterprise it was after a few years abandoned; the planks were soon sold to the highest bidder in lengths of 100 yards. Thus ended the bubble. The only dividend declared was one of 2 percent after the affairs were wound up."

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Sources

Chester County Historical Society: Clipping File. West Chester, Pa.

Davidson, Marshall B.: Life in America. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1951

Fletcher, Stevenson Whitcomb: Pennsylvania Agriculture and Country Life, 1640-1940. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, 1955

Rose, Albert C: Historic American Roads. New York: Crown Publishers, 1975

Sachse, Julius F.: "Reminiscences of a Shady Road and Quiet Nook in Easttown", [reprinted in the Tredyffrin Easttown History Club Quarterly, Vol. X, No. 4] . .

Sloane, Eric: Our Vanishing Landscape. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1955

W. P. A. Survey of Roads: Leopard Road. 1935

 
 

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