MD -- Historic National Road @ Ellicott City:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- NRELL_080315_01.JPG: Ellicott's Mills: The Road to Prosperity:
The Historic National Road: The Road That Built The Nation:
Ellicott City's Main Street, with its businesses, shops and dining establishments, reflects four centuries of prosperity built through hard work, innovations and the connection to economic opportunity.
In 1771, the Patapsco River Valley was a "wild place" when it was settled by the Ellicott family. Brothers Andrew, Joseph and John chose the valley because it offered the balance of two things needed for a successful milling operation -- water power and land fertile enough to grow wheat.
As the milling business grew, the Ellicotts initiated their expansion through the building of a road west to Doughoregan Manor, home of Declaration of Independence signer, Charles Carroll, their business in the wheat growing end of the business. In 1790, Jonathan Ellicott, son of Andrew, oversaw the extension of the road to Frederick, when it became the Frederick Turnpike./
To move goods eastward, the Ellicotts funded and constructed a road to Baltimore's waterfront where they built a wharf on the property they owned. The successful completion of the system of roads from Frederick to Baltimore was instrumental in the 1806 Congressional decision to build the first federally-funded road west from Cumberland, Maryland with the purpose of connecting an east coast seaport to the Mississippi River.
With the road to Baltimore in the forefront, the Ellicott homes of John, Jonathan and George sat elegantly behind the millrace. A store was built in 1790 and the town was named "Ellicott Mills."
Three generations of Burgess Family operated out of the wooden structure in front of you. Samuel Burgess ran a grist mill for three months and a wheelwright/blacksmith shop for the rest of each year. In 1917, the building became Burgess Automobile Sales and Service.
- NRELL_080315_05.JPG: Road Versus Rails: The Rivalry Begins
The Historic National Road: The Road That Built The Nation
Ellicott City's Main Street is the National Pike, part of the road system that moved Americans west. Only two decades after the road was constructed, a new transportation rival appeared. In 1831, America's first railroad, the Baltimore & Ohio, introduced steam engines to the Patapsco River Valley. The rivalry between the road and the railroad came together here.
Noisy, dirty, and at first, unreliable, the railroad soon gained the upper hand. By 1840, a stage coach trip to Cumberland on the National Pike cost $9 and took twenty hours. The same trip on the B&O cost $7 and took ten. John H.B. Latrobe summed it up best when he wrote. "That solitary horseman who comes down [the National Road] at a trot that dislocates half the bones in his body, and sends his saddle bags with grievous flapping is one of the few who still prefers its glow and dust to the shade and velocity of travel on the iron avenue to the west." While it was so important for the first decades of the 1800s, the National Road was doomed.
An 1832 traveler observed that "Ellicott's Mills is at the intersection of rail and turnpike roads; the two great thoroughfares to the west. We have the pleasure of serving the slow paced vehicles passing below us and the rapid easy movement of the railcars."
- NRELL_080315_09.JPG: Oella: Conquering the "Nine Mile Hill"
The Historic National Road: The Road That Built The Nation
The Ellicott brothers constructed what became the first leg of the Baltimore and Frederick-Town Turnpike to get their flour market in Baltimore. By 1787, they cut a new road east through the forests to shorten the trip to the city. This route became part of the National Road system in 1806.
Travelers on the turnpike faced a steep grade nine miles west of Baltimore. They had to conquer the hill using numerous switchbacks as they ascended from the Patapsco River Valley.
As the road passed the Oella tollhouse and descended into the valley, it reached the 1770s flour mill built by John and George Ellicott. Their first mill was where the large concrete structure now stands across the road. The nearby stone house was once the home of George Ellicott.
Ellicott's Mills grew quickly into a thriving, industrial community. Many successful mills crowded the banks of the Patapsco River at the cascading fall line.
Travelers on the National Road passed the Oella tollhouse and gate and took the "Nine Mile Hill" into Ellicott City. The mile marker is still standing and the old switchbacks are still visible on both sides of Frederick Road.
Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806):
African-American mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker was a renowned man of science. Famous for helping the Ellicott brothers survey the site of the national capital in 1791 and corresponding the Thomas Jefferson, Banneker is pictured on the cover of his 1795 almanac. He lived in Oella and is remembered at the nearby Benjamin Banneker Historic Museum and Park.
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