TURNPIKES, WAGONS, AND STAGECOACHES: TRANSPORTATION IN CONNECTICUT IN EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY
Transportation in Connecticut after the Revolutionary War was in poor shape. Travel generally consisted of short distances within a town by walking, horseback or with horse- or oxen-drawn wagons owned by farmers. The roads were at times so hard and rutted that they threatened to shake a vehicle to pieces and at other times, so muddy as to be virtually impassable. Rain and ice in New England were enemies of the country roads. The best travel conditions of the year were by sleigh after a winter storm.
Repairs to town roads were often done by the farmers when they were available and not when the roads most needed repairs. Town roads allowed the residents to go to the gristmill, sawmill or the meeting house and were generally kept in good repair. In 1795, the towns were given the authority to levy taxes to pay for road repairs.
The construction of country roads between towns were problematical because most towns were self-sufficient with little interest in roads to nearby towns. For example, Tolland, near the center of the county, lacked major roads to connect with other towns in the county or the state government at Hartford and New Haven when it was named the county seat. A petition to the General Assembly for a direct road connection to Hartford was rejected in 1797.
Travel over long distances was seldom made and required extensive planning. Travel by wagons and coaches was slow, difficult and dangerous with few vehicles on the roads until the 1790s when most travel was by horseback. The thirty-six miles from Pomfret to Providence was a half days journey by horse back, but 2 days by wagon[i]. The need for better roads and vehicles was apparent to any traveler.
Turnpikes
The first private turnpike in the United States was the 62-mile Philadelphia to Lancaster turnpike in 1792. The success of the turnpike led to the formation of corporations in other states to build or improve specified roads and to collect tolls for investors seeking a return on their money.
For the next 40 years, turnpike corporations worked with the states along assigned routes to create roads suitable for improved travel. Connecticut chartered 77 turnpike corporations by 1830 with the peak decade 1801 to 1810 with 37 charters. Connecticut companies tended to spend less money for turnpikes than other states because many turnpike corporations simply improved existing public roads and avoided heavy expenditures for rights of way.
The large number of turnpike corporations resulted in the first large scale road building that linked towns in the new country. The idea behind most designs was to connect the end points in a straight line without many deviations. The turnpike routes are the basis of many state routes today and the names of many streets often refer to an earlier turnpike.
While the turnpikes were crude by modern standards, they demonstrated many improvements over the earlier roads. Most turnpikes were two-way thoroughfares, about 24 feet wide. To avoid muddiness and road erosion, drainage was provided by giving the road a convex surface to shed the water by digging ditches on both sides and piling up the dirt to crown in the center of the road.
Tollgates were typically placed about every 10 miles. Typical fees charged at each tollgate include 25 cents for four-wheel carriages and stagecoaches, 12.5 cents for two horse chaise, sulky or pleasure sleigh, 9 cents for wagons drawn by four animals, and four cents for horse and rider. Horses, cattle and mules were charged one cent and sheep and swine were charged one third of a cent. Free passage was given for persons going to or from church, a town meeting or the grist mill.
Copies of a map of Connecticut turnpikes by F. K. Wood in his 1919 book are available.
The early northern road from New York to Boston ran through New Haven, Hartford, Springfield, and Worcester. The southern road ran along the coast using ferries to cross the major rivers. The Boston Turnpike Corporation was formed in 1798 to develop a turnpike from East Hartford to Bolton, Coventry, Ashford, Pomfret and Thompson with connections to a Massachusetts turnpike that went to Boston. The current Route 44 follows the route to Ashford after which the turnpike takes a path north of route 44. East Hartford opposed the turnpike in its town and was able to prevent the turnpike until 1812. Tolls were collected in Bolton, Mansfield and Pomfret.
In 1802, Connecticut issued a charter to the Hartford-Tolland Turnpike Corporation to upgrade existing roads from East Hartford to the Tolland Court House. The route was along Tolland Street in East Hartford, Tolland Turnpike in Manchester, Hartford Turnpike (Route 30) in Vernon and Route 74 in Tolland.
The Stafford Mineral Spring Turnpike from Tolland to Stafford Springs, Staffordsville, and Holland Massachusetts was chartered in 1803. It ran on a path from Route 74 in Tolland to the center of Stafford Springs to Staffordsville to New City Rd to Holland, Mass., Sturbridge, Charlton and continued to Worcester and to Boston. When this road was completed in 1807 in conjunction with the Hartford-Tolland Turnpike, most of the traffic on the northern route from Hartford to Springfield to Worcester was diverted to this much shorter route. This road was an important road serving a prosperous territory and heavy traffic was reported for many years.
The turnpikes through East Hartford needed to connect to Hartford by crossing the Connecticut River. Since early times, Hartford had a charter to provide ferry boats to cross the river. After much opposition, Connecticut chartered a corporation to build a toll bridge across the Connecticut River in 1802. It took eight years to build because of continual opposition from ferrymen. The bridge only lasted eight years before being swept away in a flood in 1818. It was replaced by a 150-foot covered wood bridge of six arch trusses, which remained until it burned in 1895. Tolls were collected on the bridge until 1879. The bridge was located where I-84 now crosses the Connecticut River.
More than 1,600 miles of turnpikes were built in Connecticut between 1795 and 1830. Over 5000 miles of turnpikes were built in the first road building projects in the United States. Many turnpikes were financial failures because the cost of building the turnpikes exceeded the revenues collected from tolls. By 1825, more than half of the turnpike ventures in the country had been either partially or totally abandoned. In these cases, the town became responsible for maintaining the turnpike. Most Connecticut turnpike corporations ceased before 1840, but most turnpikes remained open to the public.
The building of the turnpikes significantly improved the comfort and speed for overland travel. Benjamin Silliman wrote in 1819 about his travels on a turnpike as:
The fine turnpike we commenced our journey was but a few years since a most rugged and uncomfortable road; now we passed it with ease and rapidity, scarcely perceiving its beautiful undulations.[ii]
The improvements in roads that resulted from the building of the turnpikes created a demand for better wheeled vehicles and allowed stagecoaches to become more regular during the early 1800s. The turnpikes allowed increased pleasure travel and commercial travel for farmers and the textile industry to send its goods to the nearby population centers or to the coast for trading. Large number of heavy wagons drawn by four, six and eight horses or oxen passed along the turnpikes laden with produce for the market and returned with merchandise for the country stores. To give an indication of the amount of traffic on the turnpikes, the first year for a railroad to the seven Rockville textile mills, there were 17,000 tons of freight. However, I am going to concentrate on stage coaching and the start of the travel industry from about 1810 to 1850.
Stagecoaching
The first stagecoach company in New England was established by Levi Pease of Enfield in 1783 with one-way trips between Boston and Hartford taking three and a half days each way and stopping for the night at taverns. The stagecoach departed from Boston on Monday morning and stopped for the night in Northborough, Brookfield and Enfield to arrive in Hartford on noon Thursday. It connected with a stage to New York that arrived on Saturday. Other stagecoaches traveled in the opposite direction. Springfield was added as a stop a year later. In the beginning, there were few passengers.
In 1792, the U.S. Postal Service was created. At that time, there was one mail delivery a week between Hartford and Boston and that was carried on horseback or in a one-horse sulky. The Postal Service then decided to use stagecoaches to move mail between cities. In the following years, many stagecoach companies were created to carry the mail and passengers.
After 1800, stagecoach construction improved with egg-shaped coaches hung from the frames by leather strapping, which created a forward and backward motion of the coaches, which was more comfortable for the passengers. The entrance was on one side with the front seat facing backwards. The three seats had broad leather straps for seat backs. A foot stove within the coach radiated heat for a considerable time when filled with hot coals in the winter. The driver was on the outside of the coach unprotected from the weather. The luggage rack in the rear was covered with leather curtains.
Stagecoaches provided transportation for the public by traveling in ‘stages.’ A stage was the distance one team of horses traveled before they were changed for a new team of horses. Most stages were 10 to 18 miles in length, depending on the terrain, and ended at a tavern where the driver and passengers obtained refreshments and the horses were fed and given water and teams of horses were available for the next stage. These taverns were generally larger and fully equipped by the owner with a bartender, stable hands, and cooks. The stage routes became the arteries of communication between the city, hamlets and villages by carrying mail and newspapers. Stagecoaches allowed travelers access to near and distant cities.
Stagecoach drivers were larger-than-life figures. Going over the same roads, they grew deeply versed in the local lore and history and the traditions and tales of each locality. They had great influence in the community and their word was law. In the summer, they kept the passengers in a jovial mood with their observations and friendliness. The stage drivers were universally kind and careful of all children placed under their charge; even young children, boys and girls, were entrusted to their care.
Drivers often announced the arrival and departure of their coach by blowing on an English-style trumpet and usually ate their meals with passengers, a custom that class-conscious travelers from abroad were quick to take as a sign of the new nation’s democratic principles.
Most stagecoaches carried nine passengers inside and could accommodate one passenger next to the driver. If women were in the stagecoaches, they were seated in the rear seat with the gentlemen in the front. Four horses pulled the coaches and traveled 4 to 6 miles per hour. In 1827, the Concord stagecoach became the pre-eminent stagecoach and was similar to those seen in western movies. The stagecoach was a democratic vehicle that was not made for any class of society. Rich rode with poor, men with women, and visiting English gentlemen with American laborers and the American people had a vehicle for the people.
The travelers had ample time to enjoy the scenery while traveling many hours in the stagecoach. In the Puritanical era renowned for its propriety and formality. Perfect strangers, men and women, might have to interlock knees in the crowded space or rest a weary head on another’s shoulder. Some passengers may drink too much alcohol and others may form impromptu songfests. The public seldom complained of the uncomfortable and weary condition of the stagecoach journey. The overturning of a stage was not too disastrous. Nevertheless, it provided plenty of thrills. Yet the happenings of a stagecoach journey were endured with fortitude.
Stagecoach travel became faster with overland transit times reduced by 75% from 1800 to 1830. In 1814, a stagecoach route left Hartford for Boston at 9 a.m. and arrived in Boston at 5 p.m. the following day. In 1832, the Hartford-Boston trip was completed in one day with 3 a.m. departure and arrival in Worcester about 5 p.m. and Boston about 11 p.m.
With the completion of the Blackstone Canal, Worcester became a hub for stagecoaches in eastern Massachusetts with daily routes to Boston, Lowell, Northampton or any of 12 other nearby cities. By the 1830s, Southern Mail (which also ran on Sunday), Tremont, Citizens, and Telegraph operated daily stagecoaches in both directions between Worcester and Hartford. The most popular route was through Charlton and Holland, Mass, Stafford, Tolland and Vernon. Hartford routes carried the largest number of passengers at Worcester with about 30,000 passengers estimated on these routes a year in 1836. These routes had 50 stagecoaches a week. [iii]
Long distance stagecoaches between Hartford and Boston had gone through Tolland since 1807. During this period, Tolland prospered. By 1840, there were three General stores, a tailor shop, shoemaker, a blacksmith shop, two large taverns, two carriage and wagon makers and a furniture maker that included made-to-order coffins, a bank, an insurance company, three new churches, a new Courthouse and a jail surrounding the Green and about 5 attorneys. Many of the buildings remain today. For a few years, there was a Tolland Academy with about 60 students, about half from out of town, that gave an academic flavor. And the town would be crowded on Court days with extra help in the stores.
Boston investors-built railroad lines to Providence, Lowell and Worcester that became operational in late 1836. By 1842, ten passenger trains a day were leaving Worcester for Boston for a three-hour trip that took seven hours by stagecoach. By 1850, one could travel from Hartford to Boston by railroad effectively ending long distance stagecoaches in Connecticut. Stagecoaches were used on local routes in rural Connecticut until the end of the century.
Stage coaching was a large-scale enterprise and culture. It was a source of livelihood for a significant number of individuals: proprietors, drivers and ticket agents, coach manufacturers and blacksmith, tavern owners and stable hands, and the farmers who raised the horses and grew the oats, corn, and hay that kept them running. Stage coaching was America’s first transportation system and allowed the nation to become readily mobile and better informed when travel and communication were one and the same. During this period, most of the land was occupied with farms and cities were small.
Stagecoaches, wagons, and turnpikes determined the pace of life during the beginning of the 19th century and provided an overland transportation system and a communications system for the new nation. It allowed small towns to thrive and set the stage for cities to develop. It provided the basis for the railroads, trolleys, automobiles and airplanes that followed in the next 200 years. The old turnpikes, wagons, and stagecoaches did their job well.
[i] DeLuca, Richard, 2011, Post Roads & Iron Horses: Transportation in Connecticut from Colonial Times to the Age of Steam. Wesleyan University Press. P42.
[ii] DeLuca, Richard, 2011, Post Roads & Iron Horses: Transportation in Connecticut from Colonial Times to the Age of Steam. Wesleyan University Press. P77.
[iii] Lincoln, William, 1837. History of Worcester, MA, Moses Phillips and Company, 317-321.