Toll House
Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Site of toll house of the Stoyestown-Greensburg Turnpike Road Co. The turnpike, a section of the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh road, was completed in 1819 at a cost of about $6,000 a mile. State took over the turnpike in 1911.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Before public highways, long-distance roads were built and maintained by private turnpike companies that recouped their costs at tollgates. This spot held the toll house of the Stoyestown-Greensburg Turnpike, part of the vital Philadelphia-to-Pittsburgh road completed in 1819 at the then-steep price of roughly $6,000 a mile. Travelers, drovers, and freight wagons paid their way west here for nearly a century, until the state finally took the road over in 1911.
Why it matters
It captures the private turnpike era that carried commerce and settlers across the Alleghenies, and the eventual shift to state-owned public roads.
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Related events
- · Stoyestown-Greensburg Turnpike
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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