1910 Usgs Map Route Of The Nat'l Road Integrated Into Google Earth

[Steve_Colby]

A member of the National Road Forum has integrated the 1910 USGS Route of the National Road, from Cumberland, MD to Vandalia, IL, into Google Earth.

 

The display of the 1910 route, in conjunction with the current route, illustrates realignments that have been made in the last 100 years.

 

This is a invaluable tool for those of us that search for early vestiges of the old road.

 

For more information and links to the map file, go to the National Road Forum – 1910 USGS Map File

 

~ Steve

[mobilene]

Okay, you know I downloaded that sucker straightaway.

 

Some interesting things in Indiana and Illinois:

 

First of all, I am fascinated to see how true the old road was, overall, to the current routing. Across most of the state, when the route was made an expressway two lanes were simply added alongside the old road. I had imagined that the four-laning had done more un-kinking of the road than it appears it actually did.

 

The 1910 road made a jagged entrance from Ohio into Indiana, and according to this kdm file did actually enter Richmond along "Old National Road," which I labeled as only part of the Dayton Cutoff in this blog post.

 

I'm puzzled over what this kdm shows as the route as it passed from Marion County into Hendricks County, to the point of doubting it! I blogged about this segment here. The kdm says the westbound road turned left at Raceway Road (the county line) and then right at CR 251 S before merging into the current route. But the historic aerial imagery I have seen doesn't show that CR 251 existed in the 1930s/1940s. So I'm a little puzzled.

 

Iron's Cemetery (blogged here), west of Plainfield, used to front the road. It is hidden today only because the road's been moved away from it twice since 1910.

 

If the kdm is correct, it seems that the short brick segment I found (blogged here) was new terrain road when the bricks were laid. There is no sign of the 1910 alignment on the ground today.

 

I have long wondered about the route of the road behind the Walker Motel before the 192x bridge was built -- I'm told you can see evidence of that alignment and an old bridge abutment. Well, the kdm appears to lay it right out.

 

It appears that an entrance to a trailer park just west of Putnamville may have been the old road, and that a segment of the road that runs through the Putnamville prison (and thus is not driveable by the public) was itself a post-1910 alignment.

 

The alignment in the kdm around Reelsville doesn't even remotely resemble what I saw on a 1913 BF Goodrich strip map.

 

The kdm shows the road leaving what's now US 40 in Terre Haute and following Chestnut St. westbound to 3rd St. -- I can't even remotely imagine that this was really the case.

 

But it does give a plausible explanation of US 40's original path through West Terre Haute, which has always puzzled me.

 

At the Indiana-Illinois line, as I've long suspected, it looks as though the westbound lanes of I-70 are built on the National Road's path.

 

It also confirms my suspicions about the route around Livingston, IL, and that a farm driveway east of Martinsville was once the road. It also explains why the abandoned brick/concrete road disappears from Martinsville west to Casey -- because current US 40 was built over it, not next to it, between these towns.

 

It also confirms that what is currently signed as the NR in Effingham, a route through a neighborhood, is utter nonsense. The road hugged the railroad track all the way through. I do puzzle, however, over the route it shows where the road crosses that track west of Effingham; what I see on the ground makes me almost positive that this routing came much later than 1910.

 

It also follows the path of the current US 40 / US 51 junction east of Vandalia -- I've seen old photographs of the bridge that was once there on the abandoned alignment that is still visible from the air.

 

SO... In short, I like where it confirms my beliefs and where it fills in some gaps, but not where it contradicts my beliefs! But isn't life like that?

 

jim

[DennyG]

I'm not really familiar with USGS maps so am curious about whether the 1910 maps show an actual road labeled Nation Road (or something similar).

[Steve_Colby]

Jim,

Brian provided a link this morning for the NR from Cumberland to Frederick, MD. (NRF)

 

I have studied the map in detail, but I did find some discrepancies on the west side of Sideling Hill. I too wonder about the date of the topo Brian used. There are a few spots I know are wrong from on-the-ground confirmation and verification on period USGS topos.

 

All in all, I think it's better than 95% accurate.

 

~ Steve

[Keep the Show on the Road!]

I'm not really familiar with USGS maps so am curious about whether the 1910 maps show an actual road labeled Nation Road (or something similar).

 

Denny,

 

I only looked at a couple of the base USGS maps, and the road is labeled NATIONAL PIKE

 

Dave

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Oh, and Steve, thanks for the tip!!!

[mobilene]

I have here a 1909 Mendenhall's Road Map of Indiana, and it confirms the NR route as it passes from Ohio into Indiana as being the same (or, at least, having the same shape) as the route transcribed from the 1910 topos.

[DennyG]

I have also found indications that some sort of wiggling was going on near the state line in the early 1900s but I'm not at all sure what it was. Maps at that detail aren't common in my world but I've seen versions that show the road from Lewisburg connecting with the road from Eaton east, west, and right on top of the state line. One thing we (at least I) may be getting tied up in is thinking that what Brian has traced is supposed to be some official National Road route. In 1910 there really was no such thing as THE National Road.

 

Here's my theory:

The NR as surveyed followed a fairly straight line from Springfield, OH, to Richmond, IN. Most of this road was not paved until the 1920s or 1930s. The road through Eaton (the Dayton Cutoff) was the better road and carried most of the traffic. This the route the National Old Trails Road followed. That much is fairly well established. My assumption has been that the reason the road from Eaton got called Old National Road was because someone derived that from the name National Old Trails Road. But maybe the "official" National Road was so horrible near the state line that those wiggles developed to connect with the road from Eaton a bit further east than where they would naturally intersect. Perhaps, by 1910, the most western bit of the Dayton Cutoff was included in the de facto National Road. Of course I can't entirely rule out that the wiggles were part of the official surveyed National Road since natural obstacles certainly caused that straight line to be bent here and there. In fact, there is a dramatic and well known example just thirty some miles east at the Great Miami River.

 

I'd really like to see the 1910 USGS map for this area. The online maps at http://historical.mytopo.com/ (Thanks for the link, Steve.) have none for Indiana and stop a tantalizing 3.5 miles inside Ohio. I'm curious about how Brian's plot and the NOTR route interacted with that railroad.

 

Incidentally, while doing some digging in a 1925 ABB I found "The Eaton and Dayton pike, which is part of the Old Cumberland or National road from Maryland to the Mississippi, becomes Main street in Eaton." 'Tain't so. It does indeed become Main street but it was not part of the NR.

[Steve_Colby]

Denny,

This may or may not help... Here's a link to the David Rumsey Map Collection's maps from the Rand McNally Road Atlases circa 1924 and 1927: David Rumsey

 

The Collection has other state maps that can be accessed by a search. All the maps are zoomable and downloadable.

 

~ Steve

[DennyG]

Denny,

This may or may not help... Here's a link to the David Rumsey Map Collection's maps from the Rand McNally Road Atlases circa 1924 and 1927: David Rumsey

 

The Collection has other state maps that can be accessed by a search. All the maps are zoomable and downloadable.

 

~ Steve

That impressive site is one that I'm familiar. I'd already cast about there but the maps I found are not of a resolution that shows the nits we're picking at.

[mobilene]

Really, really good point about there not being a definitive NR in 1910, Denny. Well, I suppose there was a "The" NR, as it did exist at one time; but maps, signage on the ground, and local understanding at the time may not have accurately reflected it. At any rate, I'm willing to go along with the preponderance of evidence in this case. I've now got two sources that claim that wiggly route between OH and IN as the NR and so be it, unless and until I find something more authoritative that contradicts it. But of course much of that wiggly route doesn't exist anymore anyway, so it's not like it's explorable. jim