Town of Boonsboro

Town of Boonsboro (HM3F)

Location: Boonsboro, MD 21713 Washington County
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Country: United States of America
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N 39° 30.902', W 77° 39.44'

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Inscription

Maryland uses Macadam to Complete the National Road

The National Road from Baltimore to Cumberland was comprised of a series of privately funded turnpikes. By 1822, the road was complete except for the ten miles between Boonsboro and Hagerstown. In August of the year, under pressure from the state legislature, Boonsboro and Hagerstown bank directors formed the Boonsboro Turnpike Company to complete the final section. The National Road, from Baltimore to Cumberland, was often called the "Bank Road," because the state government enlisted local banks to finance the building of this vital economic link with the west. Federal funding was used to build the road from Cumberland to Wheeling, and eventually to the Mississippi River.

The Turnpike Company used a revolutionary new paving system, invented by Scotsman John Loudon MacAdam. Its use here in 1823 was the first time that true macadam was used in the United States. After a century of macadam, concrete again revolutionized road surfaces in the early 1900s.

(Sidebar) First American Macadam Road. National Road workmen, often wearing goggles to protect their eyes, pounded stones into pieces with small hammers. Inspectors passed each stone through a three-inch ring to assure proper size. Other workers raked the stones level in three layers on a prepared roadbed. The surface was rolled smooth with a cast-iron roller. The top layer, cemented with rain water, became as hard as concrete.
Details
HM NumberHM3F
Series This marker is part of the The Historic National Road series
Tags
Placed ByAmerica's Byways
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Thursday, September 25th, 2014 at 8:01pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 271558 N 4377304
Decimal Degrees39.51503333, -77.65733333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 30.902', W 77° 39.44'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 30' 54.12" N, 77° 39' 26.40" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)301
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 504 N Main St, Boonsboro MD 21713, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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