Getting from Harpersfield to West Oneonta is a pretty easy drive these days. The path the Yahoo! maps website recommends is 26.4 miles long, and under good driving conditions takes 37 minutes to complete.

Back around 1830, there was no such thing as good driving conditions. The going was slow, as fast as a horse or ox could move, and usually something was in tow, from a wagon to a herd of cattle. The only exceptions from the generally poor travel conditions were the new turnpikes being built. Back then, getting from Harpersfield to West Oneonta might have taken at least a full day before the idea of the Charlotte Turnpike came about.

The former Charlotte Turnpike took a route from Harpersfield and ended in today’s West Oneonta, but much differently from roads we take today. Original plans were to build it to Gilbertsville, but those plans were abandoned. It split from the Catskill/Susquehanna Turnpike at Harpersfield. The Catskill Turnpike was a route from Catskill to Ithaca via Unadilla.

The original act to incorporate the Charlotte Turnpike Co. was passed by the state Legislature in April 1830, naming Jacob Dietz, William Angel, Frederick Fenn, Samuel Stephens and several others as incorporators. They were put in charge of building the turnpike and constructing a toll bridge across the Susquehanna River, with capital of $25,000, which had been obtained by selling shares of stock at $25 each.

The act authorized the construction of the road of such materials as the natural ground surface could allow, with a width of 18 feet. The bridge across the Susquehanna was to be constructed as not to interfere with the navigation of the river. Back then there was still a lot of river traffic, as rafts of freshly cut lumber were being driven south toward the Chesapeake Bay area.

There were tollgates every 10 miles on the Charlotte Turnpike. When each of the 10-mile segments were completed and approved, the company could build a gate. Once the bridge was completed, a toll could be charged there, as well. The bridge was located in Emmons, in the area near today’s Angel Heights neighborhood.

The toll rates were extensive, depending on the number of people, horses and other animals going through the gates or the toll bridge. For example, for every sleigh or sled drawn by one horse, mule or ox, the toll was four cents.

From Hotchkiss’ Mills in Harpersfield, leaving the Catskill Turnpike, the road passed through Davenport and West Davenport, using a portion of today’s Delaware County Route 11 and Otsego County Route 47. State Route 23 didn’t get built until the 20th century, so the turnpike went along other routes during the 1830s and beyond.

After crossing the bridge about where Emmons Farms is found today, the turnpike turned left and proceeded into Oneonta, or Milfordville, as it was still called.

While planning the route, there had been some controversy as to where the turnpike would make a turn in the village toward today’s West Oneonta.

Eliakim R. Ford had a store at the corner of today’s Main and River streets.

Around this time, Ford was successful in his business endeavors and wanted the new turnpike to make the turn at that corner. Others planning the route wanted the turn to be made at today’s intersection of Main and Chestnut Streets. Ford lost in his bid, and later moved his business up Main Street, near today’s Kim K. Muller Plaza in downtown Oneonta.

Although his efforts failed, Ford was a well-respected citizen, as he went on to become the village of Oneonta’s first president in 1848.

Had Ford succeeded in his efforts, the business center of the city of Oneonta wouldn’t have been where we know it today.

The turnpike followed Chestnut Street to West Street, where it made a turn left and went down a hill and followed the railroad tracks, and then followed a route near Country Club Road and to West Oneonta.

The turnpike was completed in 1834. In 1877 the turnpike was declared a public road, but it wasn’t until the early 1900s that tolls were abolished at the Emmons bridge.

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City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.