Its About Time
TURNPIKE TALES
By LYNN  NANNARIELLO

Route 59 is a major Rockland County road that runs from Nyack to Suffern and is flanked by numerous businesses, including a major shopping mall. It's a frequently congested road, making it an on-going source of irritation to Rockland County residents. On an average day, 28,500 vehicles cross the intersection of Route 59 and Middletown Road, 24,400 traverse the intersection of 59 and Route 304, and 23,900 vehicles pass through the 59 and New York State Thruway intersection in Spring Valley. Traffic volume on Route 59 has increased so much that part of the road is being expanded from four to six lanes. Rut the busy road we know today wasn't always so. Its forerunner was a road called the Nyack Turnpike that can be traced throughout about half of today's Route 59. The turnpike was originally designed as a through road to link the eastern and western parts of the County and was traveled over by horse, mule and ox drawn wagons and carriages. Those traveling the turnpike were required to pay a toll. And although these nineteenth century travelers didn't have to contend with today's traffic, there were those who thought it an inconvenience to have to stop their horses to pay a toll.

The first Nyack Turnpike toll booth, c. 1875, which is West Broadway in present day Central Nyack. John V.Baker and his Cherokee Indian wife collected the tolls. The toll ratio sign is to the left of the door

More direct route needed. The decision to build the Nyack Turnpike sprang from a need to find a more practical way to transport manufactured goods from Ramapo in the western part of Rockland County to the Hudson River on its east side.

By 1800, a manufacturing center had begun to develop in the Ramapo Mountain pass because of the area's water power and hardwood supplies. Within 15 years the area's output had grown considerably. Among the businessmen with plants located there, were J.G. Pierson, a nail manufacturer, and Jacob Stoat, a producer of cotton cloth.

In order to sell their goods, these manufacturers needed to transport their products across the County to the Hudson River for shipment. This meant Carrying their wares in carts pulled by horses or oxen, which were scarce, over poorly developed roads that were at the mercy of changing weather conditions. Some large companies had to send their products to Haverstraw's port by a road running near the present location on Route 202. To increase their profits and to compete with companies in less isolated areas, the Ramapo manufacturers needed a well-constructed road that would more directly take them to the river.

Such an undertaking would need to be carried out primarily by private individuals. According to Carl A. Nordstrom in his book Of Shoes and Ships, and Sealing Wax...,although local government was primarily responsible for maintaining existing roads, its members "were not inclined towards making large expenditures of tax moneys for the benefit of alien manufacturers." He adds that "These local governments resisted the impulse to spend funds to provide for the construction of roads and bridges suiting the special needs of Ramapo manufacturers."

Nyack vs Haverstraw. Although the roads from Ramapo to Haverstraw provided the shortest route for the manufacturers to transport their goods to the river at this time, they did not provide the most direct means of doing so. In addition, these roads were poor and the river conditions were unpredictable.

J.G. Pierson, the nail manufacturer, thought that finding an easier and more predictable route to the river made better business sense. At the same time, members of the Nyack Community were coming to the realization that their town could benefit by becoming a shipment port for Rockland County. Pierson and the community joined forces and came to the conclusion that the answer lay in enacting legislation that would create a turnpike road that would run from the Orange Turnpike in Suffern to the river in Nyack.

A petition dated Dec, 21,1813 and signed by 46 people, including the Smiths of Nyack and the Piersons of Ramapo, was submitted to the New York State legislature for a charter to build the turnpike road.

Haverstraw residents protested the building of such a road knowing that Nyack's gain would be their loss. As a result, a rivalry developed between the towns.

According to Frank Bertangue Green in The History or Rockland County, this war between the towns greatly influenced County politics. Ploys used by one or both sides included influencing commissioners, making court appeals, and the election Of Assembly members.

Proponents of the Nyack landing pointed out the advantages of building the new road. Nyack was closer to New York City than Haverstraw, The depth of the water at the Nyack landing was greater than that at Haverstraw and boats could leave without being subject to the stages of the tides or the icing experienced in Haverstraw.

Historical marker on West Nyack Road at the intersection east of the Post Office. Sponsored by the West Nyack Lions Club.

Legislation passes Although the proposed legislation was defeated during the tenure of General Peter S. Van Orden, who was the Assemblyman from Rockland County from 1809 to 1816, it was passed on April 17,1816 during the first term of his successor, Cornelius A. Blauvelt.

According to the law, the turnpike road would

The law also provided that commissioners Jeremiah H. Pierson, John E. Meyres, and Teunis Smith could receive subscriptions for 700 shares of stock at $25 a share.

Bumpy road. The road to building the Nyack Turnpike did not however, run smooth. For six years, the road's opponents fought the legislation, stalling its commencement. On April 23, 1823, legislation was passed appointing Andrew Suffern, William Yowry, and Teunis Smith as commissioners. Under the law, the commissioners were to begin laying out the road by June 1. On Feb.28, 1824, this law was amended in response to "inhabitants, living on and near the said highway" who were "dissatisfied with the laying out of" the road to allow the commissioners to make any alterations they deemed necessary. Under the 1824 law, Roger Parmely and George Kyles were also appointed commissioners.

During the next two years some surveying of the road was done. In 1824 and 1826, the section or the road running through the Nyack swamp was filled in. By 1825, some sections of the road in Ramapo were already in use. Legislation passed on April 17, 1826 required the commissioners to resurvey and alter the road and correct any errors that may have been made in the previous survey. In that same year, lands along the turnpike route in Clarkstown and Ramapo were condemned and paid for by the supervisors. But the $1,100 total cost of the lands taken was charged to the two townships.

Law brings resolution. The question of whether or not to build the Nyack Turnpike was resolved with passage of "An act to improve the State Road from Orange Turnpike to Nyack in the County of Rockland" on April 20, 1830.

Under the law, Jeremiah H. Pierson, Edward Suffern, Lucas Acker, Isaac Lydecker, John Green, Teunis Smith, and Peter Smith were appointed trustees responsible for supervising the construction, repair, and improvement of the Nyack Turnpike. They were also to appoint toll gatherers and a clerk and determine where to place the road's one full toll-gate or two half toll-gates

Trustees were required to take an oath of office and to execute a bond with two or more securities, both of which were to be filed with the County clerk's office. The County board of supervisors would determine compensation for their services, which would be paid out of the tolls collected.

The trustees were allowed to improve or alter the road as they saw fit. These changes had to be recorded in the trustees' book, kept by their clerk. The clerk had to notify, in writing, anyone through whose lands these alteration should be made. No change, however, could be made that would go through a garden, orchard, or building.

The law also specified that

Toll money was to be used to maintain the road and to pay annual interest on any money borrowed or compensation for labor performed on the road. Any money left over was to be used to pay the principal of the money borrowed and labor performed.



 

Earliest known view of the turnpike taken from a c. 1845 water color painting by John William Hill. The group of picnickers are in the approximate location of the present West Nyack Post Office. In center background is Warners Hotel -- the present Clarksville Inn.

If a judge of the court of common pleas was notified in writing that the road needed repair and agreed that the road needed to be fixed, the judge would send a written notice to the toll keeper of the gate closest to the repair site. The judge would also order that the gate be opened and that no tolls be collected until the toll keeper received a certificate from two judges stating that the road had been sufficiently repaired.

For those living near the road, the trustees could commute toll payments for a one-year period, renewable annually. (Legislation passed on April 12, 1855, however, allowed trustees to collect tolls from individuals living within one mile of the gates.)

There was a $25 fine for breaking down the toll gates, spoiling any part of the toll road or passing through the gates without paying the toll. There was a fine of up to $10 for bypassing the tollgate to avoid paying the toll. The trustees were to use the fines to improve and repair the road. Toll collectors who unreasonably delayed travelers or tried to collect tolls higher than those stipulated by the law were liable for a $5 penalty that the detained traveler could recover in court.

The trustees were to keep an account of all the tolls collected and of all money spent and labor performed. Each year a copy of this account was to be sent to the state controller and the clerk of the County board of supervisors. (Findings from some of these reports are reproduced on page 8.)

Toll gatherers were required to take an oath of office and file it with the clerk of trustees. Trustees could build or rent houses for toll collectors.

Road Improvements. Completion of the turnpike shortened the time it took to travel cross County. Before the road was built, people traveling from Nyack to Suffern had to either go south through Orangeburg and Pearl River or north through Valley Cottage and Bardonia. (Both of these routes ran along the present road alignment between Nyack and Route 303 that follows the course of a prehistoric Indian path.) The turnpike also made travel easier. Before it was built, horses and riders had to contend with roads covered with roots and rock. Travelers were also at the mercy of the seasons and the weather. Springtime, notes Green in The History of Rockland County, could find horse and rider wading through the mud.

The opening of the road also played a major part in Nyack's growth. The swamp that had once cut Nyack off from the rest of the County was no longer an obstacle. Easier access to the village brought more business and more inhabitants. A 1796 Orangetown assessment roll listed less than a dozen taxable Nyack residents. By 1830 Nyack's population had grown to about 300, and by 1880 it had reached at least 4,000.

A swamp known as the Bears Nest, located west of Spring Valley, was another obstacle that was overcome. When several prominent citizens measured the swamp's depth, they found it to be a "bottomless morass, containing...fightful  quicksands." As a result, the builders laid out the turnpike south of this spot. (A decade later, however, the Erie Railroad was run through the Bear's Nest. And in 1871, the Alturas Road Company built a road through the swamp from Monsey.) Part of the southern detour still exists today and is known as the Old Nyack Turnpike.

Charter renewal. On June 18,1853, the turnpike charter was renewed for 21 years. On April 12,1873 the charter was renewed for another ten years. Under the 1873 legislation the road's trustees were to be appointed for a one-year term of service. At the end of each term their successors were to be appointed by the County judge with the Orangetown and Clarkstown supervisors. In 1883, the charter was renewed for another decade.
 

The prospect of the charter's expiration in 1894 created a debate on whether or not it should be renewed for another ten years. Two petitions were circulated. One was for the charter renewal. The other was against the renewal and for making the turnpike a state road.

 

Route 59 in the West Nyack Swamp C. 1929-30. One of the many floods that have plagued the Turnpike through the years. When drilling was done for the most recent widening of the road about a dozen earlier roads were identified that had sunk in the marsh below.

According to an article in the Jan. 14,1893 Rockland County Journal, the turnpike's annual maintenance cost ranged from $1,000 to $2,000 and was covered by the tolls collected. If the charter wasn't renewed or the road wasn't adopted as a state highway, Clarkstown would become responsible for maintaining the turnpike. In such an event, said the Journal, some people feared the road would be neglected. The article noted however that it wasn't the money they had to pay that bothered most of the toll's objectors so much as the annoyance of having to stop their horses.

In an article in the Journal about a week later, a gentleman responded to this objection by saying, " 'People talk now about the inconvenience of stopping at the toll gate as they go along. Well, the inconveniences of driving through mud up to the hub wheels will be much greater if the toll gate is removed.'"

The turnpike did become a toll-free road in 1893. In 1894 the board of Supervisors made it part of the County road system. And according to George H. Rudke in Historical Miscellanies Vol. II, the road was much improved under County management, On July 14, 1911, the road became a state highway The opening of the Nyack Turnpike is commemorated at its first milestone from Nyack by a monument in which the original red sandstone milestone is embedded, A tablet on the monument, which was erected by the Rockland County Society, states that "At this place, the modern thoroughfare follows the course on an Indian path of prehistoric days."

The original turnpike one-mile-to-Nyack sandstone marker, now enclosed in granite, stands on Route 59 at the Thruway entrance in Central Nyack. Other such marker had been placed each mile to Suffern but all others have disappeared

Sources; Rockland County Data Book 1994; Rockland journal-News, 4-15-95; Of Shoes, and Ships, and Sealing Wax... by Carl A. Nordstrom; Route 59 Corridor Study, 1974; The History of Rockland County by Frank Sertangue Green; Old Nyack: An Illustrated historical Sketch or Nyack-on-the-Hudson; Laws of New York, Chap. CCXXXII, 4-17-1816; Laws of New York, Chap. CCXLIX,4-23-1823; Laws of New York, Chap. XIII. 2-28-1824: Laws of New York, Chap. 25E, 4-17-1826;Historical Miscellanies, Vol.11, compiled by George H. Budke: Laws of New York, chap. 286.4-20-1830; Independent 84-66: Laws of New York, Chap. 366, 4-12-1855; The History of Rockland County, New York with Biographical Sketches of Its prominent Men, edited by Rev David Cole; Laws of New York, Chap. 403,6-15-1853; Laws of New York, Chap. 206,4-12-1873: Laws of New York, Chap. 187, 4-3-1883; Rockland County Journal, 1-14-1893, 1-21-1893; Now and Then and Long Ago in Rockland County, compiled by Cornelia F. Bedell: Laws of New York, Chap. 662,7-14-11; Rockland county Basal of Supervisors' Meetinqs, lo-Ei 856, 10E61859,10-29-1662; 1-6-1879;John Scott; Senior Historian Emeritus, Historical Society or Rockland County; Frank Schnell; Jim L. Gray.

All photos are from the Historical Society of Rockland County Collection.

A Message from Archivist Peter J. Scheibner

Thanks to the efforts of County Clerk Edward Gorman, $1.9 million was approved for the building of a Records Center and Archive. The building will be used to store over 30,000 cubic feet of Rockland County books and records while housing over 4.000 cubic feet of historical records going back to 1798. After an extensive selection process, Facilities Management chose Jan Degenshein, a highly qualified architect, to develop plans for the building, which should be completed in late 1997.

I'm also happy to report that the Archives was awarded two State grants for microfilm preservation of historical and vital books and records. The State Library awarded $24,834 for completing Tax and Assessment rolls from the 1920s to 1940 and another $63,282 for a cooperative microfilm grant between the County and the RC Soil and Water District. Special thanks to the following people who have contributed their talents in forwarding the cause of records management and archives: Joseph Brooks and Harrison Follets, both invaluable RSVP volunteers; Frank Schnell, the "Chronicler"; June M. Groll, RC Soil and Water District Manager; John Scott. Senior Historian Emeritus; Jim L. Gray of Queens College; Tony Scaring and Terry Hall of the County Reproduction Department, and the many other members of the public and county workforce who contribute each day. Last but not least I want to applaud the work and perseverance of Lynn Nannariello who makes this newsletter possible.

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