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In 1699 the Pennsylvania Provincial Council passed a law authorizing the county courts to approve roads. Citizens petitioning the court initiated the defining of a new road. The court reviewed the petition, and a jury of 6 viewers, who were local neighbors, was appointed. These viewers were responsible for investigating the area of the proposed road and suggesting a route. It is likely that a surveyor was employed to measure the distances and directions of the proposed road segments. The court then reviewed the viewers’ report and normally approved the laying out of the road, unless there were objections. It is not clear how much effort was expended to ‘build’ the road. The ongoing maintenance became the responsibility of the township. Specifically, the Supervisor of Roads (an annual position held in rotation by men of the township who were landowners) was responsible for ensuring the roads were maintained. The first Supervisor of the Roads for Tredyffrin was Thomas David who was appointed in 1719. David was also the first constable for the township, holding the office in 1708. A number of the roads followed property boundaries in order to placate landowners who did not want their land divided by a road. Examples of this routing are shown in the next map. The North Northwest trend of the property boundaries originated from the earliest Pennsylvania land grants and predates the establishment of Tredyffrin Township. Most of the original land patents actually include an allowance for roads (usually 6%). For example you may find a property of 212 acres of which 12 acres was the allowance for roads. This allowance for roads meant that early landowners could not obtain restitution for roads through their lands, which was confirmed by a case that went to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Even so, this provision in the patents seemed to have been forgotten by the early 1800s when damages started to be assessed for roads that traversed properties. Grace Winthrop's article Early Roads of Chester County discusses the process of laying out roads. Roads did not have official names and the names used are not always helpful. For example Swedesford Road is named in documents as the Provincial Road, State Road, Great Road, Swedes Road, Valley Road, Centreville Road, and the Road. Road names have been the subject of a number of Quarterly articles:
Information on the old roads has mainly been obtained from the road papers in the Chester County Archives. |