Old York Road | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Route information | |
| Existed | 1711–present |
| Major junctions | |
| South end | Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| North end | Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Highway system | |
Old York Road, originallyYork Road, with reference to New York, is a roadway that was built during the 18th century to connectPhiladelphia withNew York City.
The road was built along theRaritan tribe's Naraticong Trail, also known as the Tuckaraming Trail. A memorial plaque to the friendship of the Naraticong tribe, who permitted the road to be built over their trail, is located at the intersection of Old York Road and Canal inRaritan, New Jersey. The Swift Sure Stage Coach Line completed the journey between the two cities in two days.
A ferry left Elizabethtown Point forNew York City, or passengers could continue ontoNewark, New Jersey and ultimatelyPowles Hook Ferry in present dayExchange Place inJersey City viaBergen Point Plank Road/Newark Plank Road.[1]
Old York Road was laid out fromNew Hope, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia between 1711 and 1771. Its start (or end) point was at the intersection of Fourth and Vine Streets.
Motorists demanded the abolition of the road's tolls from City Line Ave to Bucks County in 1916.[2]
An urban redevelopment project during the 1960s removed most of Old York Road between Vine and Spring Garden Streets, although a remnant remains as the unmarked alley midway between 5th and 4th Streets atWillow Street.[3] North of Spring Garden Street, the Old York Road went through what is now lowerNorth Philadelphia on a roadbed that is now Fifth Street.[4]
A section still named Old York Road begins at the intersection ofGermantown Avenue and West Westmoreland Street in the Rising Sun/Franklinville neighborhood ofNorth Philadelphia. The road continues north and runs concurrently withPennsylvania Route 611 (PA 611) at the intersection withNorth Broad Street and Oak Lane in the neighborhoodEast Oak Lane inNorth Philadelphia.
Old York Road (known as York Road north of the border betweenAbington Twp. andUpper Moreland Twp. inWillow Grove) deviates from PA 611 at the intersection with Easton Road inWillow Grove, where it begins to run concurrently withPA 263, which is still named York Road (not Old York Road). From there north, with a pattern that is common for naming old roads, some sections of the oldest road route road still exist in a few areas, each with a name beginning "Old", in this case Old York Road. This occurs in the village of Hartsville, which sits astride the border ofWarminster andWarwick Township as well as the village of Bridge Valley inBuckingham, about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of where PA 263/York Road joinsUS 202. An 8-arch stone bridge over theNeshaminy Creek, built in 1804, still stands on Old York Road in Bridge Valley, but was only open to pedestrian andbicycle traffic since that section of road was bypassed by the 4-lane York Road in 1965 until the bridge was closed to foot traffic by acyclone fence at each end in 2010. The section of PA 263/York Road from Sugar Bottom Rd. toPA 413 in Buckingham Twp. was resurfaced in 2008-09 for the first time since the 1965 widening, and the section through Warwick Township was scheduled to be repaved in 2010–11. As of 2025, that had long been completed.
InLahaska, Old York Road follows US-202 as Lower York Road. Old York Road followsPA 179 intoNew Hope, as Bridge Street. It deviates briefly and rejoins PA 179. The road forks ahead, with Ferry Street going southeast and Bridge Street going northeast. Bridge Street carries PA 179 across theNew Hope-Lambertville Bridge, into New Jersey. The original bridge was built in 1814 and replaced twice after floods. The newest bridge was built in 1904 (a major renovation was performed in 2024-2025) and provides the closest route to the original Old York Road.
Ferry Street ends at the location of the first ferry dock of John Wells.[5] In 1719, John Wells was given a license to establish a ferry at this location, two years after he bought the land.[6] The Pennsylvania Assembly eventually gave John Wells sole right to operate a ferry from this spot after Thomas Canby attempted to compete with the service. The small village became known as Well's Ferry. Thomas Canby's son, Benjamin later bought the ferry service from Wells. In 1764, John Coryell, who operated a ferry from New Jersey bought the Pennsylvania ferry service from Benjamin Canby. The village later had the names of Canby's Ferry and Coryell's Ferry before receiving the name New Hope after a 1790 fire.
Old York Road began at Coryell's Ferry, which was on Emanuel Coryell's property between Church Street and Swan Creek (for which Swan Street is named) inLambertville. Although this was not the first ferry operated from the New Jersey side, Coryell purchased land here and began operating a ferry service in 1732.[7] The village on the New Jersey side began to be known as Coryell's Ferry. The original route followed Main Street to York Street and briefly joined withNew Jersey Route 179, the modern Old York Road.
It continues on NJ 179 with three deviations, including one at Mount Airy, before crossing under US 202. NJ 179 ends inRingoes and Old York Road continues on the beginning ofCounty Route 514. AtReaville inEast Amwell, Old York Road leaves CR 514 and joinsCR 613. CR 613 continues throughThree Bridges and ends at Pleasant Run Road inCenterville inReadington, but Old York Road continues across it and crosses US 202 inBranchburg.
Centerville was so named because of its position between Philadelphia and New York, which made it a resting place for the coaches, which originally took two days to complete the journey. Old York Road then followsCR 637 across US 202 again and joinsCR 567 untilRaritan.
In Raritan, it follows Somerset Street (CR 626) and joins with Main St (NJ 28) inSomerville. Old York Road continues to follow East Main Street, which becomes concurrent withCR 533 in Finderne inBridgewater.
After going throughBound Brook, the Old York Road traveled throughMiddlesex on modern Raritan Avenue and NJ 28, which brought the route to the northern end of theQuibbletown (now New Market) area (now part ofDunellen). After crossing the path of the Central Railroad of New Jersey on Grove Street and New Market Road,[8] it then roughly followed Front Street toThe Plains andScotch Plains. From there it went toWest Fields by Park Avenue, Mountain Avenue, and the Jerusalem Road (now partly Brightwood Avenue, Embree Crescent, Eaglecroft Road, and Clark Street), and toCranes Ford by Broad Street, Benson Place, 4th Avenue, and North Avenue.[9] In what is nowCranford, it passed along what is now Lincoln Avenue, pastDroeschers Mill.[10] Much of the road from there to Elizabethtown was eliminated, though parts survive as Colonia Road and West End Avenue. The road is still extant south of a bend in Dehart Place, which it follows to Rahway Avenue. The Elizabeth River was crossed via Pearl Street, Washington Street (now abandoned), and Broad Street. The road then followed Elizabeth Avenue and 1st Avenue to Elizabethtown Point.[11]
A ferry left fromElizabethtown Point inElizabeth to Holland's Hook (nowPort Ivory) onStaten Island beginning in 1736 by Adoniah Schuyler. Holland Hook was named for the early settlers, who came fromHolland, but later the name evolved to Howland Hook.[12]
Source: Cawley & Cawley[13]
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40°03′43″N75°08′10″W / 40.062°N 75.136°W /40.062; -75.136