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HERMON PLANK ROADS

Program
NYS Historic
Subject
Site, Transportation
Location
1468 Co Rd 21, Hermon, NY 13652, USA
Lat/Long
44.451557, -75.231906
Grant Recipient
Town of Hermon
Historic Marker

HERMON PLANK ROADS

Inscription

HERMON PLANK ROADS
BUILT AT MARSHVILLE CREEK
BRIDGE 1852. 4-MILE TOLL RD
LINKED HERMON VILLAGE TO
CANTON PLANK RDS. EXTENDED BY
HERMON-EDWARDS CO. 1856.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2025

The Hermon Plank Road Company was formed on March 1st, 1851, in the village of Hermon, New York. The first directors, David W. Weeks, Seymour Thatcher, Edward Maddock, L. H. Sheldon, and Noah C. Williams collected $4,000 in stock to build the four-mile road. Hermon Plank Road was completed in July 1852. It spanned from the Elm Creek Bridge in Marshville to the Canton town line and connected with Canton Falls Plank Road. Hermon Plank Road bridged a gap between the town of Hermon and the municipalities of Canton and Ogdensburgh

After a couple of years, a proposal was made to extend the road to the town of Edwards. The Hermon and Edwards Plank Road Company was established in 1854 and work on the new road began shortly after. Hermon-Edwards Plank Road was finished in 1856. The four-and-a-half-mile plank road began where the Hermon Plank Road ended at Marshville and linked the community of Hermon to Edwards and Jefferson County.

The plank roads streamlined transportation and communication, which resulted in population growth and prosperity throughout the region. The road is still called Hermon-Edwards Road, but it is now a portion of Saint Laurence County Road 21.