The Toll Road between Lewisburg and Mifflinburg

The road between Lewisburg and Mifflinburg , today route 45, was a toll road,  operated by the Lewisburg and Mifflinburg Turnpike Company, from 1830-1905.  On many maps, you will still see that section of 45 labeled "Old Turnpike Road".

In 1828, five men were empowered to accept subscriptions for a new turnpike.  Once twenty or more subscribers had subscribed for 120 shares, each share having a par value of $50, the commissioners were required to certify this to the governor, and then the subscribers could be incorporated.

The Derrstown [Lewisburg] and Youngmanstown [Mifflinburg] Turnpike Company as incorporated on November 11, 1828.

The company then built a road from Jacob Musser's house in Lewisburg to Jacob Maize's house in Mifflinburg. This road would replace an earlier road that ran along Buffalo Creek.

The roadway was surveyed by John F. Linn, and constructed by John Maclay, Robert Maclay, and John Forster.

2039 Pa-45

The Lewisburg Toll House still stands today.

On December 28 1829, the board elected John Linn "Toll Keeper for one year from the first day of April next [1830] at forty eight Dollars per annum"

The company began collecting tolls in March of 1830, not April - with the treasurer recording a sum of $40 on March 20th, as the first receipt of toll money from John Linn.

Fees were:

One Horse & Rider - 3 cents

Two Wheel horse drawn cart - 6 cents

Four Wheel Wagon drawn by four horses - 20 cents

Sled - 2 cents per a horse

Farmers taking livestock to market paid 6 or 12 cents per a herd.

There was no charge for anyone using the road to go from one part of their farm to another part, or for anyone traveling to church, traveling to vote, nor for soldiers reporting for duty.

For more than 13 years, the turnpike company maintained only one toll gate, and employed just one toll collector. In August of 1843 it was decided to "erect two tollhouses on the hill west of Lewisburg along John Brown's field, and the other in the east end of Mifflinburg"

The Mifflinburg Toll House

"The turnpike improved major over-land thoroughfares but they were frequently at odds with the public over rates and maintenance. Indignant be-cause turnpikes failed to keep roads in good repair patrons sometimes forged a track between the graveled turnpike and the fields along its border, thus creating a "shunpike." On other occasions they gathered in a group and pushed past the gate, ignoring the threats of the gatekeeper; situations which might end in court. "

When the company received its license to collect tolls on February 3 1830, it was heavily in debt.  If not for the money pledged by the state, the company could not have become solvent. From the "time of the civil war" to 1904, the average annual income of the company was approximately $1200.  The annual expenses were considerable. Sixteen years after the turnpike was completed, it was able to pay its first dividends.  Unlike many of the turnpike companies in Pennsylvania, the Lewisburg and Mifflinburg Turnpike company consistently paid dividends, although they were not large.

On May 23 1903 a court appointed a jury to view and condemn the turnpike.  Legal proceedings drug on for years.  On March 14 1905, the company was awarded $4000 in damages, all of the buildings and toll gates, and the privilege of removing these buildings from the right of way.

The turnpike was condemned, and the company was directed to "cease collecting tolls, remove the toll gates forthwith, and within one year from April 1 1905, removed the houses and other buildings connected therewith from the line of the turnpike."

The company then began to liquidate and it  formerly dissolved on November 7 1906.  The road then became a toll free public highway.  

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For More Stories & History Of Mifflinburg

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/01/mifflinburg-union-county-pennsylvania.html
And For More Stories & History From Nearby Towns:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

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December 1904

August 1888

March 1900