New York State Route 373
Vorlage:Short description Vorlage:Infobox road New York State Route 373 (NY 373) is a short state highway in Essex County, New York, within Adirondack Park. It begins at U.S. Route 9 (US 9) and proceeds eastward, ending at a ferry landing on Lake Champlain. It intersects two county routes, several local roads, and a reference route—NY 912T—which connects it with US 9. NY 373 is the only connector between US 9 and the hamlet of Port Kent and the ferry that serves it.
The hamlet of Port Kent and the connecting road were originally built in 1823. The village was planned to act as a source of labor for iron manufacturing and to provide for the industrial needs of Essex County. The hamlet grew and eventually became connected to Burlington, Vermont, via an hour-long ferry across Lake Champlain. The road that accessed Port Kent originally began in Keeseville, but became part of the longer Port Kent and Hopkinton Turnpike in the 1830s. The highway that is now NY 373 was also designated as part of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway in 1919.
When NY 373 was designated in 1930, a small portion of it was maintained by the town of Chesterfield. This section was turned over to the State of New York during a maintenance swap with Essex County in 1985.
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History
Port Kent and the early highway to Keeseville
In 1823, a company was funded to establish a settlement and fishing wharf opposite the city of Burlington, Vermont on Lake Champlain in order to assist in the growth of iron factories and to supply dormant energy to the Essex County area. The newly founded company chose the name "Port Kent" and located the new hamlet on a site north of Trembleau Point. The original alignment of what is now NY 373 began as a wide road that was built to access Port Kent from the nearby village of Keeseville.[1]
NY 373 exists entirely within the boundaries of Adirondack Park, a protected area maintained by the State of New York. Adirondack Park was created in the 1880s after concerns arose about logging trees in the area. The logging was a substantial part of New York's economy, but protests were lodged by The New York Times and others against the clearing of entire mountains and wilderness areas of trees. Public opinion turned firmly against the loggers by the 1880s, and the park was created in 1885. It was the first State Forest Preserve in America. The park was further protected in 1894 when a clause was added to the New York Constitution which banned the selling of timber from state parks.[2][3][4]
Old roads and designation
On April 16, 1827, a team of three surveyors were commissioned to determine a routing for a new highway leading from Hopkinton, a town in northeastern St. Lawrence County, to Lake Champlain.[5] The task took 26 days, after which it was determined that the highway would meet Lake Champlain at Fort Kent.[6] An act authorizing the construction of the highway was passed by the New York State Legislature on April 18, 1829. A total of approximately $38,500[7] (equivalent to $1,156,797 in 2024)Vorlage:Inflation-fn was devoted to the project by the state of New York through the same act.[7]
The Vorlage:Convert highway opened in 1833 as a toll road named the Port Kent and Hopkinton Turnpike.[5] The turnpike had only one toll gate, located near the center of the route. Two years later, the turnpike commissioners petitioned to the state of New York, asking for permission to replace the single gate with two gates at opposite ends of the turnpike that would collect half of the toll amount. The commissioners believed that the change in the toll gate locations would result in higher revenue, allowing them to continue maintaining the highway.[8] The change was approved;[9][10] however, the toll road was dissolved anyway three years later on March 30, 1838. At that time, maintenance of the Port Kent–Hopkinton highway was transferred to the towns through which it ran.[11]
The Theodore Roosevelt International Highway, a transcontinental auto trail extending from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, was established in 1919.[12]Vorlage:Page needed In eastern New York, the highway went through Keeseville, Ausable Chasm, and Fort Kent along what used to be the Port Kent and Hopkinton Turnpike before entering Vermont by way of the Burlington–Port Kent Ferry across Lake Champlain.[13]
The state of New York assumed maintenance of most of the Ausable Chasm–Port Kent roadway at some point after 1920.[14] In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the entirety of the highway from Ausable Chasm to the Port Kent ferry landing was designated as NY 373,[15] despite the fact that the small portion of the route east of Lake Street in Port Kent was not maintained by the state at the time.[16] On April 1, 1985, ownership and maintenance of NY 373 east of Lake Street was transferred from the town of Chesterfield to the state of New York as part of a highway maintenance swap between the state and Essex County.[17]
Major intersections
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See also
References
External links
Vorlage:Commons category multi Vorlage:Attached KML Vorlage:NYSR external links
- ↑ John Austin Stevens, Benjamin Franklin DeCosta, Henry Phelps: The Magazine of American History with Notes and Queries. A. S. Barnes, 24. September 1823, S. 372 (google.com).
- ↑ Adirondack Forest Preserve. National Park Service, 1. November 2007, archiviert vom am 13. Dezember 2007.
- ↑ Richard Greenwood: National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination: Adirondack Forest Preserve. National Park Service, 7. Februar 1976 (Vorlage:NHLS url [PDF])..
- ↑ The Constitution of the State of New York. New York State Senate, archiviert vom am 17. März 2008; abgerufen am 25. August 2008.
- ↑ a b Franklin Benjamin Hough: A History of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, New York. Little and Co, Albany, New York 1853, S. 327, 497, 568 (google.com).
- ↑ Niles' Weekly Register In: The Franklin Press, S. 131
- ↑ a b New York State Legislature: Laws of the State of New York, passed at the Fifty-first session, second meeting, 1828, and Fifty-second session, 1829. E. Croswell, 1829, S. 265–268 (google.com).
- ↑ New York State Legislature: Documents of the Senate of the State of New York, Fifty-eighth session. Band 1. E. Crowell, 1835, S. 9–10 (google.com).
- ↑ New York State Legislature: Journal of the Senate of the State of New York at their Fifty-eighth session. E. Crowell, 1835, S. 41, 47–48, 76 (google.com).
- ↑ New York State Legislature: Journal of the Assembly of the State of New York at their Fifty-eighth session. E. Crowell, 1835, S. 159, 167 (google.com).
- ↑ New York State Legislature: Laws of the State of New York passed at the Sixty-first session of the Legislature. E. Crowell, 1838, S. 96–97 (google.com).
- ↑ Max J. Skidmore: Moose Crossing: Portland to Portland on the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway. Hamilton Books, 2006, ISBN 0-7618-3510-5.
- ↑ Official Automobile Blue Book. Band 1. Automobile Blue Books Inc., 1926.
- ↑ New York State Department of Highways: Report of the State Commissioner of Highways. J. B. Lyon Company, Albany, New York 1920, S. 274 (google.com [abgerufen am 29. Juli 2009]).
- ↑ General Drafting (Kartograph): Road Map of New York. [Karte]. Hrsg.: Standard Oil Company of New York. 1930.
- ↑ New York State Department of Transportation (Hrsg.): Keeseville Digital Raster Quadrangle. [Karte], Maßstab 1:24,000. 1979 (ny.gov [abgerufen am 29. Juli 2009]).
- ↑ New York State Legislature: New York State Highway Law § 341. Abgerufen am 29. Juli 2009.