Early Roads & Highways

Early Roads and Highways. . , William Penn's 1681 charter from King Charles II of England authorized Penn to create counties and towns or townships in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester, all created in 1682, were the first three counties. If you were standing on this spot then, you would have been in Bucks County, and you would have been very lonely. Macungie Township's boundaries were established in 1742; much later, in 1832, it was divided into Lower and Upper Macungie. In 1762, after many immigrant families had already settled in the Lehigh Valley, Northampton County was created, and in 1812 its "western townships" became Lehigh County., One of the most important duties of township and county leaders, from the beginning has been establishing and maintaining roads and bridges. In the mid-1700s two King's Highways were surveyed and laid out through Macungie Township. The 1736 King's Highway went north-south and made travel easier from the Philadelphia area across South Mountain and into regions west of the Lehigh River. Today's Route 29 and Route 100 follow it in parts. Immigrant families used this road to move into the western parts of the Lehigh Valley, and descendants of many of those families still live here., The other King's Highway went east-west, connecting Easton, the county town of Northampton County, with Reading, the county town of Berk's County. Hamilton Crossings is on the northern edge of this 1755 highway. It met the 1736 highway at the Trexler settlement, near today's village of Trexlertown. During the American Revolution it was traveled by thousands of troops, and like other early main roads it became a main thoroughfare for settlers heading west., Many taverns and villages were built at crossroads along this highway. If you travel west on Hamilton Boulevard/Route 222 you can still see many fine stone buildings, farmhouses, barns, and taverns in the section between here and Kutztown., In colonial times roads, even King's Highways, were nothing like roads of today. They were packed dirt trails suitable in good weather for wagons, coaches, riders, and foot travelers. Often they followed an ancient Indian path. Before any public highways were established, immigrants and other travelers used the old Indian paths and fords. The King's roads were authorized, surveyed, and graded on orders from the colonial governor and executive council, and quickly became important routes for immigrants, businesses, and commerce., Networks of local roads intersected with the King's Highways. Many of the roads we travel on today were first laid out to connect farms and villages in the 1700s. They remained narrow and unpaved until the early 1900s, some even later., [Captions:] , Hamilton Boulevard, the east-west King's Highway, has been improved a number of times. In the 1930s the roadway was widened and the high point west of Wescosville was lowered. The men are leveling the newly poured concrete service., Detail from a map from "Indian Paths of Pennsylvania" by Paul A.W. Wallace. Many of the paths shown are followed by modern roads., Many settlers arrived from Europe in the early 1700s. Until 1729 the only three counties were Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester. As people moved north and west looking for land to farm additional counties were created. This map shows the first counties and the lands occupied by Indians., Two teams are passing on a typical dirt road in the early 1900s. Roads like this one outside East Texas were graded as needed by the elected township supervisors (called "road supervisors" then). Almost all fields were fenced, and the weeds were cut down with a scythe twice a year. The horses here are wearing fly netting on their harness. This was used in summertime to disturb the large horse flies that tried to settle on the animals to feed on their blood., The Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike slashed through Lower Macungie in 1955. This view overlooks Indian Creek Road, with Upper Milford in the background., David Schultze was authorized to survey the route of the King's Highway from Easton to Reading in May 1753. The survey was completed in late 1755, and the road was in use in 1756.