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FORMER PLANK ROAD

Program
NYS Historic
Subject
Industry & Commerce, Transportation
Location
FPP4+VJ De Kalb Junction, NY, USA
Lat/Long
44.487198, -75.293478
Grant Recipient
Town of De Kalb
Historic Marker

FORMER PLANK ROAD

Inscription

FORMER PLANK ROAD
GOUVERNEUR RICHVILLE AND
CANTON PLANK ROAD CO.
ORGANIZED JULY 6, 1849.
SIXTEEN MILE TOLL ROAD
OPENED BY SEPT. 1851.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2025

The first plank road in the United States was the Salina and Central Square Plank Road completed in 1846 on what is today Route 11 near Syracuse. The newly introduced plank roads gave local citizens a chance to take transportation improvement into their own hands. The Gouverneur, Richville and Canton Plank Road was incorporated five months after the De Kalb and Heuvelton Plank Road on July 6, 1849. The road was 16 miles long and initial capitalization for the project was $16,000. The road commenced at the eastern boundary of the village of Gouverneur and followed the approximate route of Route 11 through the village of Richville, intersecting with the Heuvelton and De Kalb Plank Road about three miles east of the village and continued through East De Kalb terminating at the Canton town line. The road was completed in 1850. The toll booths on the road were located at the edge of the Village of Gouverneur, at the intersection with the Heuvelton and De Kalb Plank Road, and at Lynde’s Tavern, which was located one half mile east of East De Kalb where the Jeffers Road joins Route 11 today. A secondary tollbooth was located at East De Kalb on the East De Kalb Road. The plank road was constructed in a manner similar to the Heuvelton and De Kalb Plank Road. The new system of plank roads brought an immediate economic boom to the town of De Kalb.

From Plank Roads and Roadhouses in De Kalb by Bryan Thompson, Town of De Kalb Historian. For the full text, please visit:


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