On the Road Again

[ April 7, 2009 12:00 pm to June 28, 2009 12:00 pm. ]

On the Road Again The National Road Comes to Y-Town

Our nations’ first federally funded highway is celebrating its bicentennial, and you’re invited to the party. The National Road: Helping Build America is a traveling exhibit whose next stop is the Youngstown Historical Center of Labor & Industry where it sill be on display April 7 through June 28, 2009.

Put together by the Ohio Historical Society and partially funded by a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council, this exhibit honors Congress’ authorizing the construction of the National Road also known as the Cumberland Road, the National Pike, “The Main Street of America” and U.S. 40. The National Road was the first compact gravel road to cross the Appalachian Mountains making it so travel through this area was more doable. With the construction of The National Road, settling the frontier became a reality.

Though Congress gave the okay to begin the construction of the road in 1806, and contracts with private builders were in place by 1811, the War of 1812 held the project in limbo until 1815. At this time, work on the road began in Cumberland, Maryland with the first portion to Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) being completed in 1817. The road eventually extended to St. Louis, Missouri. It is interesting to note that the Ohio portion of the 620-mile National Road is more than 225 miles long…