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Pennsylvania’s East-West Road:The Northern Tier’s First Highway

Written By Les Jordan Jr.

The construction of the East-West Road across Pennsylvania’s northern counties was the single most important historical event that opened up the region for settlement.

The Democrat of March 1, 1923 carried this article:

The headline reads, “North Tier Road Historic Highway.”

The article then states, “The movement spreading so rapidly throughout the state, and especially through the North Tier to have the Primary Highway connecting the county seats of the Northern Tier improved as soon as possible, is given additional impetus by the discovery that this highway follows the original survey authorized in 1806, and adopted by the assembly in 1809, says the Galeton-Leader Dispatch.

“The Federal government has designated this route as the “Great East-West Highway,” and now we find that the original road, and the first road laid out across the northern tier, was known as the “East-West Road.

“This information comes from Robert R. Lewis of Coudersport, who has been selected as a vice-president of the “East-West highway Association,” (this association was mobilized to push the state into improving what was to soon be U.S. Route 6, also known later as the Roosevelt Highway, and the Grand Army of the Republic Highway) and who is actively engaged working for the early construction and improvement of this highway.”

The letter from Mr. Lewis follows:

“The organization to advance an East and West Highway through the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania recalls that this is an old historic highway of Pennsylvania and one that was known many years ago as the East and West road. In 1806 (Statutes at large of Pennsylvania, Volume 18, page 471, or Smith’s law, page 391), an act was passed providing for the appointment of Commissioners to explore and mark a road from a point where the Cochocton and Great

Bend Turnpike passes through the Moosic Mountains in a westerly direction to the west line of the state.

“This road, by the terms of the Act, was to pass through Wellsboro, by the Great Meadows (Ansonia), and Pine Creek, to Coudersport thence to Smethport and Warren. The Commissioners appointed to make a survey of the road reported to the Governor.”

That report was approved by an Act of Assembly in 1808.

Smethport’s Main Street became the route of that road, which eventually became the important United States Route 6 following its designation as the East-West Road in the preceeding century. Originally of dirt construction, the town paved this busy street with brick in 1908, then with concrete in 1948.

Smethport celebrated that event with a huge “Street Opening Ceremony” on Saturday September 11, 1948. The event was highlighted by Assemblyman Albert Johnson whose daughter, Karen, cut the ribbon opening the street for traffic to once again flow over The Roosevelt Highway as Route 6 was then called.

Smethport’s own C.W. Lillibridge, retired Supervisor of McKean County Schools, provided the key-note address. His address appeared in the Sept. 16, 1948 McKean County Democrat:

According to Lillibridge, “In August of 1807 Francis King, agent and surveyor for the Keating Land Company whose headquarters were then in Ceres, Pa., came to the forks of Potato Creek for the purpose of plotting and surveying the town lots and streets of the newly designated county seat of McKean. After building a rude camp, he and his helpers proceeded with this task which took thirty-five days. Thus, the meets and bounds and the general direction of Main Street and the road project which today is being dedicated were established 141 years ago.”

Surveys were then made the following April of 1808 to plan the location of a state road through the town.

Lillibridge’s address pointed out that, “In 1808 the Legislature of Pennsylvania authorized the East and West road which extended from the Delaware River through the county seat towns of the Northern Tier

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Counties to the city of Erie. From the days of its early construction to the present this highway has been one of the chief trunk lines of the county as well as northern Pennsylvania. With the exception of the Port Allegany-Smethport and the Marshburg-Kinzua sections of this highway, it follows closely the lines of the original survey. Entering McKean County at Burtville, it ran parallel to the Allegheny River to the Canoe place where the river was crossed.”

The July 6, 1934 McKean County Democrat printed several articles in honor of Smethport’s Old Home Week Celebration. The article’s headline reads, “History of Smethport Had Vital Effect On Entire Section Of State.” The article notes that, “In 1809 Benjamin B. Cooper petitioned Congress to establish a port at Smethport so that “ships” from Instanter might receive and discharge cargoes. He bought 20 acres of land on Nunundah Creek and made propositions to men to erect wharves.”

“As late as 1840 the Allegheny River and Potato Creek were considered navigable for steamships as far as Farmers Valley, six miles below Smethport. The war department still lists Potato Creek as a navigable stream, but the dream of Smethport as a ‘port of entry’ never materialized - although it was a busy point in early lumbering days when log rafts were taken down the river every spring.” (McKean County Democrat, July 26, 1934).

The McKean County Democrat of Feb. 12, 1942 states that, “Cooper and Joseph McIlvaine laid out the streets of Instanter in 1817,” using the layout of Washington D.C. as their model. Instanter was a large development on their lands in Sergeant Township. The settlement was near the present community of Clermont. This settlement helped to fuel Smethport’s growth and sent much traffic to the East-West Road.

Smethport’s first home, constructed in 1811 by Colonel Arnold Hunter, was built beside the East-West Road as it entered the east end of Smethport. The house was located on the high side of the hill at the intersection of present day Main and East Streets. For years the intersection was known as McCoy Corners, named for one of Smethport’s earliest pioneers, Dr. William Y. McCoy, who had his home and office at that location, the site of today’s Gulf Station.

An article in the May 26, 1932 McKean County Democrat notes that in 1826 Orlo J. Hamlin found “that there were not more than a dozen houses surrounding the brick courthouse.”

If Smethport was ever to achieve its dream of being a thriving community, it desperately needed a system of roads to connect it to other important communities in Pennsylvania and near-by New York State.

This began to materialize when, “Joel Sartwell, Hiram Paine and Jonathon Marsh were commissioned to lay out the East-West Road in McKean County.”

The road connected the county seats of Warren and McKean Counties by way of Keating, Lafayette and Corydon Townships, a distance of 40 miles through the center of each county.

The 1820 McKean County map shows the location of the road marked in red as it crossed the plateau from Port Allegany to Smethport. The map is from the Pennsylvania State Archives.

Mrs. Anna Gates of Mount Alton read a paper about the highway at a meeting of the Pamona Grange in 1928. The October 25, 1928 McKean County Miner describes her report.

Gates says that, “some claim the original purpose was to bind the inhabitants in loyalty, by means of communication, to the street of Pennsylvania, as the Connecticut Company was extending for this land at that time. Many of the pioneer settlers were from the New England states. It was really a continuation of the

1828 map

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Great East to West Road laid out in 1816-1819 running from Kinzua on the Allegheny through the center of the counties, Coudersport and on to Wellsborough.”

Old topographic maps show this original route in several locations. The route traveled through Coudersport and entered Roulette. Lyman wrote about the road as the “dug-out road” in his book about the History of Roulette that he produced for that community’s centennial in the mid 1960’s. The term was used in his grandfather’s journal, his grandfather being one of the original settlers in that area of Potter County.

A “dug-out” road was a big-deal in those days when roads were not much more than old Indian paths through the woods.

From Roulette, the highway paralleled the Allegheny River along where the old Route 6 was located prior to reconstruction in the late 1960’s, and entered Port Allegany along Main Street. There the road turned west onto Mill Street, crossed the Allegheny River, and then climbed up the steep hillside onto the vast plateau between Smethport and Port Allegany that the old-timers called the “big level.” At that point the road ran across the big level to enter Smethport some 8 miles east.

According to Smethport resident Jim Wallace, he often went on hikes as a youth across the old road as it climbed the hill out of Port Allegany. Wagon ruts chiseled into the stones embedded in the old road’s surface were still visible from the heavy wagons that crossed its route a hundred years ago.

On the flat hilltop between Port Allegany and the Game Lands atop Prospect Hill, the road is difficult to find in some areas and highly visible in others.

Travelers walking the road must use care in order to discern the alignment of the old road as there are several new jeep trails that merge into and out of the “old state road trail,” as it is labeled on the 1933 topographic map.

However, walking the trail holds some beautiful views of the rolling mountains of the Allegheny Plateau which the old timers called the “big level.”

Lillibridge describes the road just after it crossed the Allegheny River at Port Allegany. “The road then steeply ascended the mountain directly west of that village to the highest elevation and thence directly westward to the Potato Creek Valley and Smethport. Here the descent was made into the valley by way of the ridge separating Fay and Riley (currently spelled Reilly) Hollows, passing closely to the site of the Ralph Burdick cottage.”

Ralph Burdick’s cottage, owned later by the Angell family and now owned by Bill Lake, is located in a clearing on the highest altitude of Prospect Hill. Residents of Smethport growing up in the 1960’s were able to see this cottage, referred to as “Angell’s Camp,” high on the hill aligned almost due east from town when looking east on West Main Street.

Mr. Burdick moved the cottage onto Prospect Hill in 1936. The announcement appeared in the Sept. 17, 1936 issue of the McKean County Democrat:

“R.E. Burdick, treasurer of the Hamlin Bank & Trust Co., has purchased 80 acres of land on lofty Prospect Hill overlooking Smethport and is preparing to move his cottage, ‘Bonny Castle,’ from Bush Hill to the new location.

1933 survey topographic map showing the roue of the East-West road through McKean Co.

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“Prospect Hill, 2495 feet above sea level, is the highest point in Pennsylvania between the fifth coal basin range of the Alleghenies and Lake Erie. It is said to be the highest cultivated point in the entire state.

“Mr. Burdick purchased the land known as the old Toban farm from Henry Kleisath, who owns a farm in Reilly Hollow, at the foot of the towering peak.

“A road is being constructed from the old highway over Prospect to the highest point, where the cottage will be situated.

“Mr. Burdick states that, strange as it seems, two fine springs are located near the top of the hill and they continue to flow when many springs hundreds of feet lower go dry.

“The local man intends to install an electric plant to furnish light for the cottage.

“Bonny Castle” will be twenty-six feet higher than the state forest fire observation tower located on Prospect.

“A number of fine farms were located on the hill in former years but it was gradually deserted for some unknown reason. Mr. Burdick says that Mr. Kleisath has two exceptionally fine fields of potatoes—too high for blight to affect them—on the hill this year.”

An article from the Aug. 13, 1938, McKean County Democrat reports that, “R.E. Burdick is constructing

a rustic pool below his cottage on Prospect Hill, highest peak in this section of the country overlooking Smethport. The pool is fed by a spring of crystal-clear water which was used by pioneer farmers on the hill.” Water for man and beast was crucial for highway travel, especially after such a steep climb from either town.

Many Smethport residents have visited the spot over the years to view Smethport nestled in the valley below. Woods surrounding the camp have grown high, and the view of town is now blocked.

According to Bill Lake, the East-West Road serves as the northern boundary of his cottage property. The old road currently is used as a snowmobile trail down the hill toward Smethport.

The road from the parking area at the game lands toward Port Allegany can still be walked. It is narrow,

Ralph Burdick’s “Bonnie Castle” was moved to Prospect from an ajoining hilltop on Bush Hill in 1938

The East-West Road as it appears today on Bill Lake’s property boundary on Prospect Hill

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barely passable in some spots, rutted with jeep trails in other spots, but is still discernable as an ancient road through the forest. The road from the parking area toward Smethport becomes difficult to detect at this point. It swerves across the Prospect Hill road toward the Fire Tower, passes just to the south of the tower, then begins the decline to the Potato Creek Valley as it travels north of the Lake cottage and down the gentle slopes to East Smethport.

I am uncertain where Fay Hollow is located, but suspect that it is where Gifford Hollow is today. In the 1950’s the Fay family had a farm at the head of the hollow where they sold brown eggs.

I have walked the entire route of the historic highway from the state game lands into East Smethport. It is a wonderful hike, filled with startling views and the special ambience that comes from knowing that you are walking along a piece of history.

The best part of the route is along the gentle slopes at the top of the ridge dividing Reilly and Gifford Hollow. At one point a short distance north of the East-West location, Smethport appears nestled in the valley, safe and secure. It is a wonderful, panoramic view, perhaps just like the early settlers witnessed as they walked into town.

Above East Smethport the road descends the ridge in a gradual motion down the southern side of the ridge, then wraps around the base of the hill before angling northward to join the road from Norwich into Smethport. The Norwich road, today, is PA Route 46 south to Emporium.

Bruce Washburn owns an old pioneer farm at that area. The land deed shows the location of the “Old State Road” where it descends the hill, sweeps around its base and turns northward to join the Norwich Road.

Bruce Washburn’s property absract shows the East-West Road descending the hill at East Smethport

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Orlo J. Hamlin, one of Smethport’s earliest pioneers, writes about his 1826 migration to Smethport over the East-West Road in his journal, part of which was reproduced in 2003 for Smethport’s Sesquicentennial book, Timeless Home:

“At the Canoe Place (now Port Allegany) we fell in with Moses Hana who regularly carried the mail from Smethport to Jersey Shore once in two weeks. We came over the hill, or rather mountain, I should call it, one of the most gloomy, lonesome and disagreeable roads I have ever traveled; all woods, the trees large and numerous, and the road being quite narrow shut out the sight of the sun - if it had shone in December, which it rarely does at our latitude and climate- forming over us a complete canopy of dark, gloomy evergreens. The road was rocky in places, and stony nearly all, with innumerable roots of trees interlaced

in the bed of the road for the horses to get over as best they could, at the risk of breaking a leg at every step, mud often knee deep, and the more wet or swampy places ornamented for crossing with an execrable corduroy or pole bridge. We slowly groped our way for nine long and seemingly endless miles to the foot of the hill east of Smethport; then for near half a mile we found another of those most intolerable of all bridges, made of logs and poles. Then crossing Potato or Nunundah Creek, arrived at the Red Tavern, kept by the widow Williard in Smethport. Mrs. Williard was not a widow, but as her husband had lately gone to the south, and left her to take care of herself and child, she became landlady and kept up the tavern as a means of support.”

The East-West Road climbed the hill above the Mill Street Bridge in Port Allegany to cross the plateau to Smethport. The road can be seen curving sharply just to the left of the smoke plume from the saw mill along the Allegheny River.

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Orlo then describes his fist night in Smethport at the Red Tavern.

“It being long after dark when we arrived, the barroom was pretty well filled with men, who just then had nothing else to do. After supper we rejoined the men in the barroom who were quite civil and neighborly, one of them who seemed a leading man among them, after inquiring whence we came and what we came for and learning of our proposed settling as a lawyer, asked me what spelling books were in use now. I felt my dignity as a lawyer put to the test, and was rather mortified that I should be asked such an undignified question, and replied under the infliction of a little mortified pride, that it was so long since I had been in the elementary school that I hardly knew what spellers were now in use, but I believed “Dilworth’s” were going out and “Webster’s” coming into use. Had he asked me some grave questions of law, I should have felt much more elevated, at least in my own

estimation.

“On retiring for the night I passed a small dining-room, which adjoined the kitchen, from that to my bedroom which was adjoining the barroom. It so happened that a married man and woman were then occupying a room immediately back of the dining-room, and at about ten o’clock at night the woman was in her accouchement, and I was kept awake by neighboring women passing through the dining-room to the sick woman’s room every few minutes, back and forth to the kitchen. In the barroom the men kept up a continual cross-fire of conversation with an occasional outburst of laughter. So to me sleep was impossible. About twelve, I heard apparently the sound of one person, then another falling on the barroom floor, accompanied by the sound of laughter. This I inferred resulted from one man pushing another off his chair and landing him on the floor. This to me intolerable nuisance was kept up until early morning, when the denizens of the barroom dispersed.

“I rose in the morning feverish, nervous and excitable, fully determined to return to Towanda and take my chance there, rather than to settle in so outlandish a place as Smethport; but destiny had ordained it otherwise.”

Mrs. Gates tells about another interesting event at the “Red Tavern” held on July 4, 1828 during a celebration in honor of the opening of the East-West Road. It involved a joke played on Mrs. Williard. The Oct. 25, 1928 Miner reported:

“Good music was necessary and as the best fiddler in the county was a guest of the sheriff. Just then an understanding was had with the sheriff that the fiddler would be present. The ball was in the tavern of David Young. Mrs. Williard who ran the “Red Tavern” was indignant because her hotel had been slighted. She threatened the sheriff if he furnished the orchestra. The sheriff placed a dummy in the jail to replace the fiddler. Mrs. Williard peeked through the key hole at the jail but was fooled by the dummy. The committee was careful that she did not attend the dance. The ball was a success.”

According to Lillibridge, “Smethport, as the county seat, was naturally the center from which road building activities radiated. The village was connected

The Red Tavern still exists in Smethport and is located at Me-chanic and Main Streets

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with Ceres by way of Eldred and Farmers Valley where early settlements had been made. Likewise, a road leads southward to Gallup’s Corners in Norwich Township. Another was constructed in a southwesterly direction to Instanter (Clermont) the second oldest settlement to be made in the county.”

After noting several other roads radiating out of Smethport, Lillibridge remarks, “We must consider Smethport itself as the most important of these early pioneer highway junctions and for this reason: one of the greatest hardships that faced the early settlers was the lack of communication with friends and business associates left behind in the more thickly settled areas of the state. Thus we read that mails were sent regularly from Philadelphia to Ceres by way of Williamsport, but it was only when a chance traveler happened to be coming through that the mails were delivered from Williamsport to the far-away settlement of Ceres.”

Early settlers endured great hardships because of the poor conditions of the dirt roads that emanated from the community. Lillibridge reports that, “there were the snows of winter, the dust of summer and still worse the mud of spring and fall. Farmers and townspeople alike dreaded the time of the annual break-up when streets and country roads were well nigh impassible. The beautiful street now being officially opened and dedicated must have been at certain times of the year a veritable quagmire. The large logs removed by the contractor at considerable depth below the surface below the old brick pavement are evidences of the vain attempt of early settlers and road builders to make the streets of the village more

passable in the time of rains and mud. However, a sparse population, lack of local, county and state funds made these attempts fruitless for a century or more. Those who lived before the days of improved highways literally ate dust for a part of the year and then waded through mud halfway to their horses’ knees for another part of the year.”

Lillibridge goes on to say, “Forty years ago Smethport remedied this situation locally by constructing a fine brick pavement along its Main Street. Then eight

years later in 1916, the citizen of the county, quite largely under the leadership of civic-minded residents of Smethport, voted a bond issue of $750,000 for road building purposes, thereby placing the county as the first in the state to earmark upon a county-wide project of this kind. Since that time the state has contributed generously for roads and at the same time taken over the maintenance of practically all of the highways in the county. How extensive and beneficial those projects have been is evident in every borough and township in the county. Just how beneficial is evidenced by these simple statements. Forty years ago there were few schoolhouses in the entire county on improved roads. Children walked to school through snow and mud. Now there is not a single school building in the county on a dirt road. Efficient transportation is available for practically all citizens of the county no matter where they may dwell.”

He continues, “The end is not yet. More and better highways are constantly being built.”

1820’s map showing early roads merging with Smeth-port

Bricks are being laid on Main Street in 1908

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Lillibridge then adds inspiration to his address. “The old brick pavement has been torn up and removed. In its place there is now a finer, stronger highway better designed to meet the increasingly difficult traffic conditions of modern times. Along the old Main Street there have taken place the usual and uneventful, but necessary, daily avocations of typical American community. If one had the time, the inclination and the data to tabulate these events and the men and women who took part in them since this street was first paved forty years ago, the list would be astounding as well as ennobling.”

In Smethport, the East-West Road became “Main Street” and traveled westward through the town.

The photo below shows the East-West Road looking east from the 700 block of West Main Street circa 1865. The foreground building, known as the Astor House, played a key role in Smethport’s early development and served as an inn, general store, tavern, stage stop and community gathering area for townsfolk and travelers on the East-West Road. Note the terrible condition of the muddy road.

A block west from the Astor House the Milesburg Turnpike bisected the East-West Road. Today, this is where U.S. Route 6 turns south off of Main Street to follow Marvin Creek to Hazel Hurst, Mt. Jewett and Kane. This old turnpike was also a very important road in Smethport’s pioneer development.

The Milesburg Turnpike was completed soon after the East-West Road was opened for traffic. It began in Smethport, traveled south for about 5 miles, and then left the valley to crawl across the plateau to Clermont and points south. The pike ended in Center County near Bellefonte.

The Ther East-West Road climbed up Ormsby Hill west of town. The present location of Pennsylvania Route 59 is located over the old East West Road up to the base of Ormsby Hill. Here, the old road deviated from the present highway in several spots as it snaked its way up Ormsby Hill and toward the oil towns scattered across the hilltop, towns such as Cyclone, Davis, Aiken and Rew City. It is visible in several places to the right of the modern highway as you drive up the hill toward Ormsby. It is dug into the slope of

the hill and is barely wide enough for a wagon to pass across without falling over the side of the road.

Midway up Ormsby Hill, the old road turns sharply up the hill and parallels the headwaters of Blacksmith Brook, then makes a sharp turn west over the brook and enters Ormsby on what is today the Woodard Road. It then crossed the “Y” at Ormsby and travels

The Astor House about 1870 showing the poor condition of the mud street. The Astor House was used as a stage stop for the run to Kane started in the mid-1870’s.

The East-West Road is visible from Rt. 59 mid-way up Ormsby Hill. The East-West Rd. eventually became the wagon road to communities on the hilltop and Bradford. The wagon road was relocated in the 1930’s to its present location.

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along the present Route 59 once again.

A1926 topographic map of the Bradford quadrangle locates the East-West Road crossing the plateau toward Marshburg. It shows Route 59 as running from Ormsby, Cyclone, and Gifford on today’s PA 646, then onto PA 770 through Minard Run and into Degolia on the present day PA 770, then south for a short distance on U.S. 219 to Custer City and then onto PA 770 once again to Marshburg. This route then joins today’s Route 59 at Marshburg. This 1920’s era

route alignment was relocated to the present Route 59 alignment in the World War II era.

Two important old roads intersected the East-West Road as it crossed the plateau between Ormsby and Lafayette. The first was the Ellicott Road. It crossed the East-West Road at Ormsby and proceeded across the big level to the Tunungwant Valley, then through Bradford to the Allegheny River and north through New York State to terminate in Ellicottville.

The Catawba Indian trail also bisected the East-West Road near Mt. Alton. This trail, used by the Seneca Indians as a war path to raid the Catawba Indians in

the southern states, later became the Kittanning-Olean Road.

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The East-West Rd. still exists today and is just north of the present Rt. 59 through Ormsby.

This map shows the allignment of the East-Wset road with the present day Rt. 59 across the Allegheny Plateau and the allignment of the original Rt. 59 prior to the mid-1930’s.

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Note how an old wagon road to Bradford branched off the East-West Road at Ormsby. It is not known when this branch was constructed. This writer suspects it was after the oil boom and the Bradford, Bordell and Kinzua Railroad built its 3-foot narrow gauge line across the Big Level and into Smethport in 1880, since the wagon road paralleled the railroad pretty much from Davis to Ormsby.

On September 14, 1922, the McKean Democrat reported that the reconstruction of the road between Smethport and Ormsby was completed. “The highway has been newly graded and completely resurfaced and ditched. The huge rocks which lay in the roadway and made it apparently hopelessly, perpetually rough, road have all been blasted out and broken up, the lose stone being used to fill up big depressions in the roadway. The road is now level as a floor.” At the time of the construction, the East-West Road served as the wagon road up Ormsby Hill.

Lillibridge stated that, “From Smethport the road passed through what are now known as Ormsby, Mt. Alton, Lafayette Corners, and Marshburg, and then

directly westward and down into the Kinzua Valley by following the ridge separating Chapel Fork from Sugar Run Valley.”

Much of the route to Kinzua was widened and resurfaced in 1964 in response to a projected

increase in traffic that would use the highway to visit the Kinzua Dam, which was under construction at the time. From Marshburg to Kinzua, Route 59 was rebuilt on an entirely new location. This new highway merged with the East-West route in some spots, and wiggled across it or paralleled it at other spots. The present day Klondike Road is built on the East-West grade, as is the current road to Kinzua Heights.

The old highway descended the hill on the ridge atop Sugar Run and entered Kinzua from the north, then traveled through the village and hugged the south bank of the Allegheny River as it gained elevation and made the sharp turn at Devil’s Elbow, then proceeded along the river to arrive in Warren. The modern Route 59 follows that same course, except for a change in the route at Devils Elbow.

The map below outlines the East-West Road across the western edge of McKean County and into Warren County at Kinzua. The surface of the old road across the plateau between Marshburg and Kinzua is in very good shape. The area is part of the National Forest and the forest service has maintained the old road in excellent condition.

Lillibridge ended his 1948 address with these words:

“In conclusion it can be said the roads of long ago were primitive, but so were the times in which the roads were built. The days of pick and shovel corduroy and ox-team roads are past. An increasing

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population with greater financial resources combined with an effective cooperation of local, county and state authorities have given us a highway system of which we can be proud. What of the future?

Highways are only a means to an end, and that end should be a finer and better cultural and industrial development of the people served by the roads. In the pioneer days our communications of necessity were self-contained. Each one, however small, must solve its own problems of civic, industrial and recreational nature. This called for close cooperation of citizen with citizen all along the line. The very highways of which we are so proud tend to make travel so easy and enjoyable that many communities lack that cohesion and cooperation of years ago. Are we not thereby losing something vital and necessary to healthful American life? Our roads are built and taken care of by the state. However, there are areas of activities in church, school, recreation and industry where

initiative and local cooperation must come from within the small community itself. The County and the state cannot do everything for us without our losing something essential that even the best of highways cannot compensate.”

Smethport’s early settlers desperately needed a highway to bring the outside world to their pioneer

town for the same reasons noted by Lillibridge. Local townsfolk like Joel Sartwell, Hiram Paine and Jonathon Marsh, who laid out the original plan of the East-West Road through Smethport, played an important role in the area’s development in 1828. Local townsfolk continued to take an active role in the future of their town when numerous citizens mobilized in the early 1920’s to push for the improvement and paving of the Roosevelt Highway across the region and the entire state. Other townsfolk continued the tradition as Smethport replaced its brick Main Street with concrete in 1948 in a town-wide celebration. The tradition lives on today as numerous new citizens work to promote the same highway as did Hiram Paine and his friends after Smethport was chosen as Pennsylvania’s First Route 6 Heritage Community.

This paper is copyrighted ©2007-2009 by Les Jordan Jr.

A dit road served as Smethport’s Main Street until the highway was paved with brick in 1908. Once the East-West Road, the highway became United States Route 6, or the Grand Army of the Republic Highway in the latter part of the 1930’s.

Additional photos of the East-West Road are included on the fol-lowing pages.

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Views from Prospect Hill taken from the East-West Road

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Views of the East-West Road from the ridge atop Rielly Hollow near East Smethprt

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The roadbed of the East-West Road can be difficult to descern atop the Port Allegany side of Prsopect Hill. These views are near the State Game Lands Parking area on Prospect Hill.

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Ralph Burdick’s “Bonnie Castle” atop Prospect Hill is now owned by Bill Lake

This photo of the East-West Rd. was taken at the northern property line of Lake’s camp.