Washington, Colesville and Ashton Turnpike
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The Washington, Colesville and Ashton Turnpike Company was established in 1870 in Maryland in the United States. Its path began at the Washington and Brookeville Turnpike (also known as the Union plank and turnpike road, today's Georgia Avenue), followed the modern path of Colesville Road (Route 29) until the crossing of the Northwest Branch at Burnt Mills, where the turnpike took the route of modern Lockwood Drive to join the path of modern New Hampshire Avenue (MD 650) near White Oak north to Colesville and then to Ashton.
Thomas Y. Gonley, Oliver H. Clark, Thomas Rawlings, James L. Bond, Jasper M. Jackson, Asa M. Stabler, Benjamin Fawcett, William F. Lazenby, William H. Spencer, Francis Valdenair and Charles G. Porter, of Montgomery County, were appointed Commissioners to take subscriptions to the capital stock of the Company of up to $40,000.
The charter allowed the Company to "erect one or more tollgates upon said road, but not within three miles of each other, and may demand and receive toll, not exceeding two cents per mile for any vehicle drawn by two animals, one cent per mile for every additional animal; for every vehicle drawn by one animal, one cent per mile; for every score of sheep, swine or cattle, three cents per mile, and the same proportion for any less number; for every horse and rider, or led or driven horse, one cent per mile; and for every pleasure carriage or vehicle, the above rates and one-half of said rates additional."
Those who would damage the road or forcibly pass a toll gate without paying could face a fine of $20. Those that simply went around the toll gate faced a fine of $5. [1]
“Toll Gate #1” was located just as travelers approached the end of the turnpike at Sligo. The small wooden toll gate, located at the intersection of today’s Georgia Avenue and Dale Drive, closed in 1910 with the death of its last toll keeper, Henry Charles Ulrich (born 1849). By the mid 1910s, privately run turnpikes had ceased operations with the establishment of Maryland’s State Roads Commission. On April 1, 1930, Harvey and Blanche (Mrs. K) Kreuzberg opened Mrs. K’s Toll House Restaurant in the toll house (with significant expansion) at 9201 Colesville Road.[2][3]
