A Boom for Cumberland

A Boom for Cumberland (HM1JIT)

Location: Cumberland, MD 21502 Allegany County
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Country: United States of America
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N 39° 39.129', W 78° 45.574'

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Inscription

The National Road Meets the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

— The Historic National Road / The Road That Built The Nation —

The National Road and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad came together at this spot in 1842 at Cumberland's first railroad station. For a few years, it was necessary for passengers and freight to transfer from railroad cars to coach and wagon for the trip west. It was the reverse for the trip east.

National Road traffic flourished and the population of Cumberland nearly doubled by 1850, as Cumberland enjoyed a brief but lively boom. Old businesses expanded, new ones thrived. Construction filled the city with new warehouses, hotels and repair shops.

Travel on the National Pike thrived prior to the construction of the B&O Railroad. Throughout the first three weeks of March, 1848, stage coaches carried 2,586 passengers through Cumberland. One local old-timer claims to have sighted "fifty-two six-horse wagons...on the road at one time, and...at least 4,000 head of western cattle quartered at a single place."

In 1853, the railroad was completed to Wheeling, West Virginia. Travel on the National Road declined as speedier steam railroads replaced horse-drawn stagecoaches.

(captions)
(lower left) With the railroad station and the National Road intersection at its eastern end, Baltimore Street became the business address to have. Photo courtesy of Albert & Angela Feldstein
(lower right) Early 20th century map of Cumberland detailing locations of major transportation routes. Map courtesy of Cindi Ptak
(background) "National Road at Fairview Inn" background image from the Enoch Pratt Library Cator Collection.
Details
HM NumberHM1JIT
Tags
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Friday, March 13th, 2015 at 1:01am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17S E 692218 N 4391549
Decimal Degrees39.65215000, -78.75956667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 39.129', W 78° 45.574'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 39' 7.74" N, 78° 45' 34.44" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)301, 240
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling West
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 157 Baltimore St, Cumberland MD 21502, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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