Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: January 1985 Volume 23 Number 1, Pages 25–36

The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road Company

Bob Goshorn

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You can't imagine how bad the roads were at the end of the Revolutionary War! The main road between Philadelphia and Lancaster, opened in 1741, at times during the year was virtually impassable, sometimes for several weeks at a time.

Travel on it was particularly difficult after a heavy rain or during the spring thaw. In 1778 Elizabeth Drinker noted in her diary that in going from Philadelphia to Lancaster, "in our journey today, we found the roads so bad that we walked ye part of ye way, and climbed three fences to get clear of ye mud." And in a letter in 1787, William Hamilton, a frequent traveler between the two cities, wrote, "In all the times and seasons I have travelled this Road, I never found it to be so bad as at present. From Jesse George's Hill to this place [the Sorrel Horse tavern in Ithan], I could not get into a trot, but could not compare myself to anything but being chin deep in hasty pudding and obliged to trudge thro. The hills its [sic]true are not so slushy but are worn into lopsided ruts so as to be scarcely passable." The local historian Julius F. Sasche, a century later, wrote, "The terrible condition of the road especially during the wet season can now hardly be described; the ruts in the miry road were often hub deep, it was nothing for teams to be stalled in the mud for half a day. During winter and spring it was even worse and it was not an uncommon occurrence for wagons to freeze fast in the ruts, and there remain until they could be gotten out when the frost came out of the ground in the spring." At other times, the roadway was thick with dust!

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And there were other obstacles. One traveler, for example, noted that his driver "drove against a large stump that stood in the way, by which the chair [a type of small carriage]} was overturned", while in 1789 another commented, "The road was so rough, and the load was so heavy, that the axle cracked, and the stage dropped to the road. Fortunately nobody was injured, so the party extricated themselves and 'footed it Indian fashion to the nearest inn' two miles distant." After another trip in 1793, William Hamilton reported, "As one of the wheels struck a stone 2 feet high when I was driving at the rate of 7 miles an hour you will not wonder that the shock was violent. Although I have to thank Heaven that I have no broken limb I am fearful of having for along time to complain of a very severe sprained ankle."

The seriousness of the situation did not escape the perennial attention of the State Assembly. In September 1790, and again in October 1791, it passed a bill for the appointment of commissioners "to make proper surveys" of the road. Addressing a joint session at the opening of the Legislature in December 1791, Governor Thomas Mifflin commented, "The improvement of our roads and inland navigation will, I am persuaded, continue to be a favorite subject with the Legislature.- ... I hope the Commissioners who were appointed to make proper surveys between Philadelphia and Lancaster will enable me, previously to the adjournment of the session, to lay a plan before you which ... may lead to the establishment of a general system of well constructed and well regulated roads."

On the following February 15 the seven-man committee made its report. It was "of opinion," it reported, "that the great quantity of heavy produce to be transported between the two places will require an artificial road bedded with stone and gravel, the expense of which will be very great, and beyond the present ability of the State to undertake as a public charge, but there appears to be a disposition among the citizens to undertake it at their private expense, if a company were formed and incorporated, with powers to raise a sufficient capital, by subscription, to effect the work and to fix gates, or turnpikes, and demand reasonable tolls from persons using the said road". In addition, it reported, "The committee are further of opinion that the importance of the trade between city and country, through which said road must pass, will justify the Legislature in erecting such a company, and granting to them all the necessary rights, privileges, and franchises."

Its recommendations were adopted in an Act of the Assembly, passed on April 9, 1792, with the cumbersome title, "An Act to enable the Governor of this Commonwealth to incorporate a company for making an artificial road from the City of Philadelphia to the borough of Lancaster". The road was to go "from the west side of the Schuylkill River, opposite to the City of Philadelphia, so as to pass near to or over the bridge on Brandywine Creek near Downingtown, and from thence to Witmer's Bridge, on Conestoga Creek, and from thence to the east of King Street, where the buildings cease, in the Borough of Lancaster".

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The action was taken because, as recited in the preamble to the Act, "the great quantity of heavy articles of the growth and produce of the country, and of foreign goods which are daily transported between the city of Philadelphia and the western counties of the State requires an amendment of the highway which can only be effected by artificial beds of stone and gravel, disposed in such manner as to prevent the wheels of carriages from cutting into the soil, the expenses whereof will be great, and it is reasonable that those who will enjoy the benefits of such highway should pay a compensation therefor, and there is reason to believe that such a highway will be undertaken by an association of citizens, if proper encouragement is given by the Legislature . . ."

This legislation in two respects marked an innovation in road making in this country. Before its passage, the construction and maintenance of roads were generally dependent upon a road tax and "statute labor", but the road authorized by this Act was to be built and maintained by a private corporation, the first major turnpike in the United States, And the specified use of broken stone and gravel in the construction of the road bed, following the design of the "macadam" road developed in England by John Loudon MacAdam, made it the first road of this type of construction in the country.

The Act authorizing the incorporation of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Company was a document of some 6,000 words, in twenty-two sections. Ten of the sections pertained to the organization of the company and its responsibilities to its shareholders.

By the first section, ten Commissioners (Elliston Perot, Henry Drinker Jr., Owen Jones Jr., Israel Whelen, and Cadwallader Evans, of the City of Philadelphia, and Edward Hand, John Hubley, Paul Zantzinger, Matthias Slough, and Abraham Witmer, of the County of Lancaster) were appointed to "enter subscriptions for shares of stock at $300 per share", after giving notice in three newspapers in each city as to the times and places the books would be opened to receive subscriptions. A total of 1,000 shares was authorized, with 600 shares alloted to Philadelphia and 400 to Lancaster, for a total capitalization of $300,000. Subscribers were limited to one share on the first day, two on the second, and three on the third day, with no limit thereafter, and were required to make a down payment of $30 per share at the time of the subscription. After 100 or more persons had subscribed to 500 or more shares, the Commissioners were to certify this to the Governor, who would then issue the "letters patent" to the company (Section 2), where upon a meeting of the subscribers would be called to organize the company and elect officers and twelve managers, no subscriber having more than 10 votes in the election, regardless of the number of shares he held (Section 3). The president and managers elected were authorized thereafter to meet to transact their business at such times and places as they agreed upon, with five persons forming a quorum (Section 8). The date of the annual meeting of the company was fixed as the second Monday in January (Section 4).

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The president and the managers were also directed to issue stock certificates to the shareholders (Section 5), while penalties were established for subscribers who defaulted on their payments, after due notice (Section 7).

The president and the managers were also directed to keep "fair and just" accounts of monies paid by the subscribers and of the costs and expenses affecting these accounts (Section 16), and to keep a "just and true" account of monies received from tolls and to declare dividends of clear profits and income, with payments on the second Monday of January and June (Section 17).

To maintain "the rights, liberties, privileges and franchises" granted to it, the company was also required to begin work on the road within two years of the passage of the Act, and to complete the road within seven years of its passage (Section 22).

These "rights, liberties, privileges and franchises" included a broad power of eminent domain in the construction of the road. The president and managers were authorized to appoint and fix the salaries of surveyors, engineers and superintendents "to carry on the intended work" (Section 7), and these employes, as well as the president and the managers, were authorized to survey and fix the route of the road, to enter upon all lands "through and over which the intended turnpike might be thought proper to pass", and to examine the ground and quarries in the vicinity for stone, gravel and other material that might be needed in the road's construction (Section 8). They were also authorized to enter upon contiguous lands and to dig and carry away stone, gravel, and other material needed to make or repair the road, making amends, either by an appraisal or by agreement, for any damages caused (Section 9).

Although the turnpike was to be built by a private corporation, the Legislature was quite specific in defining the way in which it was to be done. The company, it specified, "shall cause a road to be laid out fifty feet wide, twenty-one feet whereof in breadth at least shall be bedded with wood, stone, gravel or any other hard substance, well compacted together a sufficient depth to secure a solid foundation to the same; and the said road shall be faced with gravel or stone pounded in such manner as to secure a fine even surface, rising towards the middle by a graded arch, and so nearly level in its progress as that it shall in no place rise or fall more than will form an angle of four degrees with a horizontal line" (Section 10). (Under an Act passed om April 17, 1793 the company was permitted to increase the width of the road, where it was laid over the ground of an older road or otherwise deemed necessary, to a width "not to exceed sixty-eight feet".)

It was also the duty of the company to put direction signs on post sat all intersections of roads with the turnpike, showing the town or village or place to which the intersecting road went and the distance to it in miles (Section 19); to erect mile stones at every mile, on which the number of miles from or to Philadelphia was to be shown "in plain, legible characters", and at each toll gate to post a sign showing the distance from or to Philadelphia and to the next toll gate in either direction (Section 20).

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The construction of permanent bridges (presumably rather than fords) over all "waters" crossing the road was also authorized. After the road was constructed, it was also "forever thereafter" the responsibility of the company to keep it "in good order and perfect repair" (Section 10).

To collect tolls, the company was authorized to appoint "toll-gatherers" and to stop "any person riding, leading or driving any horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, sulky, chair, chaise, phaeton, cart, wagon, wain, sleigh or other carriage of burden or pleasure". The toll schedule, based on a ten-mile stretch of road, was also prescribed by the Legislature in the Act. For each score of sheep or hogs, the toll was set at one-eighth of a dollar; for every score of cattle it was one-quarter of a dollar. For every horse or rider or led horse the toll was set at one-sixteenth of a dollar; for a two-wheeled vehicle (sulky, chair, chaise) drawn by one horse it was one-eighth of a dollar; for a four-wheeled vehicle (chariot, coach, stage, phaeton, chaise, or wagon) drawn by two horses it was a quarter of a dollar; for any of these vehicles drawn by four horses, three-eighths of a dollar; and for "any other carriage of pleasure, under whatever name it may go", the "like sums", depending on the number of wheels and horses. The toll for carts and wagons of burden was fixed according to the number of horses pulling them and the width of the wheels; the wider the wheels, the lower the toll, as the wider-wheeled wagons served to help pack down the road's surface rather than cutting into it. Thus, for a wagon with wheels more than 12 inches wide the toll was set at two cents for each horse pulling it; if the wheels were 10 to 12 inches wide the toll was three cents for each horse; if seven to ten inches wide, five cents for each horse; if four to seven inches wide, one-sixteenth of a dollar for each horse; and if the wheels were less than four inches wide the set rate of toll was one-eighth of a dollar for each horse (Section 12). For the purpose of collecting tolls, one mule or a pair of oxen was the equivalent of a horse (Section 14.).

While the toll schedule was thus set in the Act, the company did have authority to increase the tolls after two years, if necessary, to a level such that the profits would support a 6 per cent dividend on the capital investment. At the same time, if, after ten years, dividends were 15 per cent or more, the tolls were to be reduced to rates that would produce a profit to bear a dividend of that amount only (Section 18).

The company was authorized to open a section of the road and begin the collection of tolls as soon as a ten-mile or longer stretch of the road had been completed from Philadelphia and approved (Section 11). In the event the company was found, upon a complaint and certification by a Justice of the Peace, to have failed properly to have maintained the road "in good and perfect order and repair" for five days, however, the collection of tolls was to cease until the lack of repair was corrected (Section 15).

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The Act also set forth certain road restrictions for use of the turnpike. No wagon was to be drawn by more than eight horses, and if the wheels were less than nine inches in width, by more than six horses. There were also weight limits. From December 1 to May 1, four-wheeled vehicles with wheels less than four inches wide could carry no more than 2-1/2 tons; with wheels from four to seven inches wide, no more than 3-1/2 tons; and with wheels seven to ten inches wide, five tons. The corresponding limits for carts or wagons with two wheels were 1-1/4 tons, 1-1/2 tons, and 3 tons, respectively. From May 1 to December 1 the limit in each case was half a ton higher. In no case was the weight to exceed seven tons from December to May, or eight tons during the rest of the year. The penalty for the failure to comply with these regulations, incidentally, was the forfeiture of one horse (other than the shaft or wheel horse or horses), to be selected by the company's employee, for the use of the company! (Section 13). It was also provided in the Act that traffic should proceed on the right side of the road except when passing, with a fine of two dollars for violation of this regulation (Section 21),

As directed under the first section of the Act, the ten appointed Commissioners gave the required notice that applications for subscription to the stock would be received on June 4, 1792. The response was immediate and, literally, overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

In Philadelphia, to which 600 shares had been allotted, more than 2200 persons showed up at the State House at 9 o!clock in the morning on June 4 to subscribe to a share of stock! In their certificate to Governor Mifflin on June 20, the Commissioners reported, "That all having an equal right to subscribe, we found ourselves at a loss in what manner to receive subscriptions without giving undue preference to any persons present. Whereupon the citizens there assembled agreed to determine by lot who should be the Six Hundred persons who should subscribe for the said shares, and having themselves appointed eight responsible citizens, two thousand two hundred and seventy-six persons delivered in their names, wrote on a piece of paper, with Thirty Dollars each, to the said eight persons". They then held a drawing to determine which 600 would be entitled to subscribe to the 600 shares.

The reception in Lancaster was almost as enthusiastic. On June 5 a Will Webb wrote in a letter, "I have never seen men so wet with sweat in an harvest field, as some were in the crowd to-day, to subscribe to the Turnpike Road. Most of them did not think that the worst of it, for many did not get in for the prize, which warmed their minds as well as their bodies. The subscription closed with 400 shares to-day, about 1 o'clock."

As directed, the Commissioners then sent the required certificate regardimg the subscription to the stock and the receipt of $30,000 to the Governor, who then issued the letters patent to the company. At an organization meeting held on July 24, William Bingham, a prominent Philadelphia merchant, was elected the president.

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(Bingham had also been the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1791, and from 1795 to 1801 represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate. He later was also the founder of Binghamton, New York.) William Moore Smith was elected secretary, and Tench Francis, treasurer. At the same time the twelve-man board of managers was also elected.

The required stock certificates were to be of sheepskin, with a picture of the road, a Conestoga wagon approaching a toll gate, at the top.

The president and the managers appointed two surveyors to lay out the route of the turnpike, a Mr. Hall for the eastern half, from Philadelplia to the East Brandywine, and a Mr. Cunningham for the western half of the road. Their duties were described in a letter of instruction from Bingham to Cunningham in late October: "As the survey now to be made will determine the exact Line of the Road, where the Turnpike is to be formed," he wrote, "it becomes essentially necessary that the greatest care & caution should be used in the progressive stages of the Road, so as to select the most practicable ground combined with the shortest distance." The route of the road was to be marked by stakes close enough to each other that "the Direction of the Road may be easily discernible", driven into the ground "with such force as not to be easily removable", with the stakes at one-mile intervals marked with the number of miles from the starting place. The surveyors were also to record in their field-books all places where the route of the road passed over or near sources of stone or other materials needed to build the turnpike.

By mid-November the president and the managers had also appointed a "skillful and experienced" superintendent for each of the five sections or districts into which the road had been divided for its construction. Their instructions were to examine the nature of the ground along the route staked out by the surveyor, and determine the quantity of material needed to build the road and bridges as specified by the Legislature in the Act. They were also to investigate "the least expensive mode" of procuring provisions for the laborers and to feed the oxen that would be used in the construction work. The superintendent for the section of the turnpike through Tredyffrin and Easttown was a John Curwin.

On December 1 Bingham reported to the Governor, "The Track of the Road has been staked, the materials will now be collected. Measures have been taken to insure the requisite number of Laborers & every 'exertion will be made to complete with economy and dispatch this important work."

Actual work on the turnpike was started in the spring of 1793. To get the "requisite number of Laborers", a number of them were brought down from New England, arriving in mid-March. By the end of the following year the turnpike was virtually completed, well within the seven-year period set by the Legislature for its completion, though some work was still in progress as late as in 1796.

In August 1794 Robert McClenachan, a nephew-in-law of Charles Thomson and the unsuccessful promoter of the proposed village of Glassley in Easttown, brought a trespass action against Curwin, the section superintendent.

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In his suit, McClenachan claimed that Curwin had overlaid a part of his lands with stone and gravel in building the road, without asking or obtaining permission or paying or tendering payment for the damages to the land "so appropriated and overlaid". He also alleged that his fence across the route of the road had been thrown down during the construction work. The case was heard nisi prius by the Justices of the Supreme Court in 1802; their opinion, delivered by the Chief Justice, was based on a practice adopted by William Penn back in 1681. In all proprietary grants of land, Chief Justice Shippen pointed out, "an additional quantity of land [was] granted to each purchaser without price or rent, to enable him to contribute without loss to such public roads as should thereafter be found necessary for the use of the inhabitants, ... The quantity of 6 per cent. ... was fixed as the permanent quantity to be added to every man!s land for that purpose, and from that early period to the present, no grant has been made either by the proprietaries or the commonwealth without the addition of 6 per cent, expressly for the purpose of contributing to the establishing of roads and highways. ... We cannot, therefore, consider the legislature's applying a certain portion of every man's land for the purpose of laying out public roads and highways, without compensation, as any infringement of the constitution; such compensation having been originally made in each purchaser's particular grant," That the road was built by a corporation established by the Legislature rather than by the Commonwealth itself was not considered material by the court as the turnpike had been "deemed by the legislature a matter of general and public utility". The judges did note, however, that "had it been found necessary to pull down houses, destroy orchards, or spoil grain in the track or route of the road, the company was undoubtedly bound to make compensation to the owners", but that no such claim had been made in this case. It was therefore the court's unaminous opinion that judgment be entered for the Turnpike Company.

The completed turnpike was 62 miles and 135.95 perches long. The total cost of its construction was about $465,000, or about $7,500 a mile.With a total capitalization of $360,000 (two additional stock offerings of 100 shares each had later been authorized), the balance of the cost was paid from toll receipts.

Having "perfected the very arduous and important work", the president and the managers of the company announced the establishment of nine toll gates between Philadelphia and Lancaster, and the appointment of a "toll-gatherer" for each one, to collect tolls in accordance with the schedule set by the Legislature in the Act.

None of the nine toll gates was in either Tredyffrin or Easttown, gate No. 3 being located ten miles west of the Schuylkill River and gate No. 4 twenty miles west of the river, and thus on either side of the two townships. When a survey was made of the turnpike in 1807 by Roger Brooke and Dewey Strickland, however, it was suggested that another toll gate be established "somewhere between the 14-mile stone [in the eastern end of Tredyffrin by 20.2 perches, or a little more than" 100 yards] and the Valley Forge road ... in order to intercept the travelers coming into the T. [Turnpike] road below gate No. 5, from the Swede's Ford road and taking off again at the old Lancaster road, between the Spread Eagle and the contrary way". There is no indication that the suggestion was implemented by the company, however.

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From the outset, the collection of tolls and the road restrictions set by the Legislature caused controversy and attempts to evade them, particularly by farmers and others living nearby, who used the turnpike for only a short distance. An attempt was made to resolve some of the difficulties with an Act passed on April 17, 1795. It provided (in addition to the previously mentioned provision about the width of the road) that no tolls should be collected from persons "living on or adjacent to the road" using it "upon the ordinary business relating to their farms or occupations, who shall have no other convenient road by which they might pass", and also that the amount of toll to be collected from "persons passing along the road east of the creek known as Five Mile or Indian Creek" should be for no greater distance than they actually traveled on the turnpike.

Nonetheless, to provide "for the more effectual preventing evasions of the salutary regulations" of the original Act, a Further Supplemental Act was passed on April 4, 1798. Under its provisions, anyone who attempted to detour around a toll gate "with intent to defraud the company or evade the payment of toll" or who claimed an exemption to which he was not entitled was subject to a payment of not less than four dollars nor more than fifteen dollars, to be sued for by the company before a Justice of the Peace within six months. A forfeit of $20 was also established for defacing or other willful damage to a milestone, directional sign, or the printed list of tolls posted at the toll gate, to be sued for in the same manner. It was also provided that the company was authorized to erect scales to as certain the exact weight of any wagon or carriage, and that refusal to enter upon the scales for such purpose would result in a forfeit of not less than five or more than ten dollars. (Originally to be in effect for two years, in the following year its provisions were extended to nine years, and on April 11, 1807, under another Supplemental Act, they were made perpetual. In the 1807 Act the penalty for failure to comply with the established road restrictions was also changed, to a forfeit of ten dollars, to be sued for, rather than the forfeiture of a horse for the use of the company.) And on March 28, 1820 a Further Supplemental Act was approved providing that upon application by the owner and the payment of thirty-seven cents for each wheel it was the duty of the company "to cause the breadth of each wheel to be correctly measured" and "a legible mark put on each wheel" that would be the basis for determining the amount of the toll, "without making any additional charge in consequence of the wear of each wheel".

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In spite of these amendments, the controversy continued, with considerable agitation to have the road, and also other leading turnpike roads, made free roads. "Complaints against Gate-keepers," it was observed in the January 22, 1822 issue of the American Republican, then published in Downingtown, were numerous and loud, and may, in many instances, be well founded, and originate in an abuse of the trust confided to them by Turnpike Companies; but we think that most of the causes of complaint may be traced to the defects of charters of Turnpike Companies, particularly that of the President, Managers & Company of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike road Comapny, whose charter, privileges them to make by-laws which operate adversely to the community," Among the various grievances cited were the lack of uniformity among the toll-gatherers as to the amount of toll to be charged for a vehicle, the practice of measuring the width of the wheels "by eye", and a strict interpretation of the regulations regarding wheel width so that "if there be a bit broken off the side of a tire" the toll was based on the narrower wheel, with no regard to the spirit of the Supplemental Act of 1820.

On the other hand, in the West Chester Village Record of August 13, 1823 the toll collector at gate No. 8 near Downingtown, William Nelson, thanked several persons who had interceded in his behalf when he "was treated by two persons passing the road with singular rudeness, and the toll refused to be paid" in their "outrageous conduct". In the following February, he also acknowledged, in the American Republicanr "the favor done him ... by a ready payment on the part of his subscribers".

Despite the criticism of the powers that had been given to the president, managers and company by the Legislature, in a Further Supplemental Act approved on June 14, 1836 the Legislators gave them the additional authority to raise or diminish tolls" and rates, provided that the profits and dividends were still within the limits originally set.

In its first four decades, the operations of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike were quite successful. "During the latter part of the first quarter of the century," Julius Sasche reported, "there was on the entire length of the turnpike an almost unbroken procession of ponderous Conestoga wagons, each drawn by five or six strong horses, which transported all the merchandise destined for the interior, and the extensive travel thus created and concentrated upon the once splendid highway stands without parallel in the history of transportation in the country previous to the introduction of steam power." As early as in 1814, he noted, ten different stage coach lines traveled along the road, stopping at "the Paoli" on their way to or from Lancaster, Baltimore (by way of Lancaster), Carlisle, Columbia, Harrisburg, York, and Pittsburg, as well as less distant places.

The use and popularity of the road also brought about changes along its route. Inns were established, and around the inns small villages or hamlets grew, as blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and other businesses were established to serve the wagons and coaches and other vehicles traveling the pike.

As a result, the company was able to pay "liberal" dividends to its shareholders, in some years even in excess of the limit of 15 per cent on the capital investment set by the Legislature. In 1827 the dividend was $72 a share, or 20 per cent!

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The road's success led to the incorporation of a number of other turnpike companies and a "turnpike fever"; by 1831 there were some 2500 miles of turnpike road in Pennsylvania alone.

But it was not to last. On June 21, 1831 the Legislature passed an Act directing the Canal Commissioners "to complete as soon as practicable the whole of the railroad between the rivers Schuylkill and Susquehanna, beginning at ... the City of Philadelphia, and thence extending to the end of the canal basin at Columbia in the County of Lancaster", beginning operation on April 1, 1834 as the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, after 1847 it was operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad, and taken over by it five years later. Traffic on the turnpike became less and less as more and more goods were carried by rail. Toll receipts declined, and inevitably the road was maintained in something less than "good order and perfect repair" and soon began to show considerable deterioration.

In an attempt to maintain the road in better condition (if not "perfect repair"), on April 11, 1866 the Legislature authorized the company to divide the turnpike into three or more sections, and offer them for sale. (In the preamble to the Act it was noted that "since the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad, from Philadelphia to Lancaster, trade and travel on the turnpike road, between the same points, has been diverted from the latter road", and that this action was "believed to be in the best interest of the public, as well as the shareholders".)

In addition to authorizing the company to divide the turnpike into sections and "convey its right, title and interest in same" (Section 1), the Act also provided that the purchaser would be "invested with all the franchises, rights, privileges and immunities granted under the 1849 act regulating turnpike and plank road companies" (Section 2), and that the proceeds of the sale were to be divided among the shareholders in proportion to the number of shares each held (Section 3). In another Further Supplemental Act approved on May 15, 1871 the toll schedules of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike were also brought into conformance with those set for new turnpikes and plank roads in the 1849 Act, including the provision that "any person or persons passing and repassing from one part of his or her or their farm, to any other part of the same; and all persons with their vehicles or horses going to or from funerals or places of public worship, or of military training or elections" were exempt from paying tolls.)

The turnpike was eventually sold in five sections, for a total of about $40,000 altogether, while two other sections were simply abandoned. The first sale was to transfer the easternmost three miles of the road on October 10, 1867, part to the Hestonville and Mantua Railroad for use as a right of way for its tracks in West Philadelphia and the remainder to the City of Philadelphia, in which that section now lay with the growth of the city.

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On March 10, 1873 sale was made of the westernmost fifteen miles, between Lancaster and the Chester County line, to the Lancaster and Williamstown Turnpike Road Company, which had been incorporated about three weeks earlier. On August 3, 1876 the Borough of Coatesville bought the one-mile part of the road that ran through the borough for one dollar.

The section between the Philadelphia city line and Paoli, including the portions of the turnpike that passed through Tredyffrin and Easttown, was sold on April 20, 1880 to the Lancaster Avenue Improvement Association. The Association was organized under the leadership of Alexander J. Cassatt, who became its president. (While Cassatt was well-known for his promotion and support of better roads, that he was also a vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad led to suggestions that the purchase may have been at least in part to protect the business interests of that company. In an article in the Village Record of July 4, 1901, it was observed, "In the year 1876 the horse cars had extended as far west as the Centennial buildings and it became apparent that in a year or two thereafter they might be still further extended over the turnpike in the direction of Paoli and thus become an annoying competitor for the local traffic, which had been so carefully nurtured and built up by the efforts of the railroad company." In fairness, however, it was also noted, "The new purchasers rebuilt the entire seventeen miles and there is to-day probably no better macadam road in the United States, nor one more scrupulously maintained than [that of] 'The Lancaster Avenue Improvement Association.'") This section of the road was operated as a toll road until June 18, 1917, when it was sold to the Commonwealth for $165,000 and transferred by deed dated the following July 16.

In 1880 notice of abandonment was also given for the sections between Paoli and Exton and between Coatesville and the Lancaster County line. By that time the road was in such bad disrepair and condition that the tolls could no longer be collected.

The last remaining section, the ten-mile stretch between Coatesville and Exton, was sold in 1897 to the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company. When its plans to use the road as a right of way to extend its trolley line to Downingtown and Coatesville were thwarted by the Pennsylvania Railroad, however, it too was eventually turned over to the supervisors of the townships through which it passed.

Finally, on February 25, 1902 the stockholders approved a resolution that application be made in the names of the president, the managers, and the company to the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia for the dissolution of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road Company. The request was granted, and so, after 110 years, the corporation was legally dissolved.

But for more than forty of those years, the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, the first important turnpike and the first "artificial" road of crushed stone and gravel in the United States, not only played an important part in the opening of the west and in the commerce of Philadelphia, but also in the development of our area.