Road Versus Rails

Road Versus Rails (HM4EQ)

Location: Ellicott City, MD 21043 Howard County
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Country: United States of America
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N 39° 16.067', W 76° 47.7'

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Inscription

The Rivalry Begins

Ellicott City's Main Street is the NationalPike, part of the road system that movedAmericans west. Only two decades after theroad was constructed, a new transportationrival appeared. In 1831, America's firstrailroad, the Baltimore & Ohio, introducedsteam engines to the Patapsco River Valley.The rivalry between the road and therailroad came together here.

Noisy, dirty, and at first, unreliable, therailroad soon gained the upper hand. By 1840,a stage coach trip to Cumberland on theNational Pike cost $9 and took twenty hours.The same trip on the B & O cost $7 and tookten. John H. B. Latrobe summed it up bestwhen he wrote, "That solitary horseman whocomes down [the National Road] at a trot thatdislocates half the bones in his body, andsends his saddle bags with grievousflapping is one of the few who still prefersits glow and dust to the shade and velocityof travel on the iron avenue to the west."While it was so important for the firstdecades of the 1800s, the National Roadwas doomed.

(photo caption) An 1832 traveler observed that "Ellicott's Mills is at the intersection of rail andturnpike roads; the two great thoroughfares to the west. We have the pleasure ofobserving the slow paced vehicles passing below us and the rapid easy movementof the railcars."
Details
HM NumberHM4EQ
Series This marker is part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) series, and the The Historic National Road series.
Tags
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Tuesday, October 14th, 2014 at 6:27pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 345150 N 4348029
Decimal Degrees39.26778333, -76.79500000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 16.067', W 76° 47.7'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 16' 4.02" N, 76° 47' 42.00" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)202, 410, 443, 301
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 8019-8035 Frederick Rd, Ellicott City MD 21043, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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