It was 100 years ago today that the Town and Country newspaper reported that residents of the Upper Perkiomen Valley had enough.  More than 1,700 residents of the upper end of Montgomery County signed a petition and more than 60 representatives 

The tollhouse on the Perkiomen Turnpike at the Perkiomeville Bridge.

of that group traveled to Norristown three months later to plead their case to the County Commissioners. In fact, there were som many visitors to the April meeting that the normal meeting room couldn't handle them all, so the meeting was moved to a large room in the basement to accommodate the frustrated citizens.

            At the time, there were 177 ¾ miles of toll road in Pennsylvania.  To free the highways, State officials decided to invest $500,000 in a two-year program to buy all

Toll house on the Green Lane - Goshenhoppen Turnpike near the bridge over  the Hosensack Creek in Palm..

of the remaining toll roads in the Commonwealth.  The program had a catch – it required a dollar for dollar match from the county to complete the transaction.

            Nearly all of remaining toll roads were located in the southeast section of the state.  Montgomery County had the most with 56 ¾ miles, followed by Bucks with 41 ½. 

            At the time, Montgomery was the third richest county in the state.  Many roads in its central and southern sections of the county were paved and toll free. 

            The upper end of the County not only had to pay to travel from town to town, but they were forced to plod along unpaved and poorly maintained roads.  Some of the roads in the area resembled little more than trodden paths, and at spots were downright impassable.

            The Green Lane and Goshenhoppen Turnpike (stretching from Green Lane to Hereford) was one of the bumpy toll roads that lacked the funding required make the improvements needed to bring it into the era of the horseless carriage.  The upper end of the county always seemed to be neglected by the commissioners at budget time. 

            After all, the voters in the lower end far unnumbered those north of Collegeville.

            A look at the County Budget for 1917 and 1918 might explain why the local community leaders back then were not happy.  In 1917, Montgomery County spent $331,000 on roads and not a penny went to the upper end.

            In 1918 $335,000 was doled out for road improvements with only $2,000 going towards improvements in the upper end – and that was spent upgrading Geryville Pike, not the Gravel Pike toll road.

            So when the Commonwealth announced the two-year, matched funding project, a group of local business and civic leaders worked together to make sure that their section wasn't forgotten again. 

            Residents wanted toll-free, improved roads and they wanted the Montgomery County Commissioners to pay attention to the needs of the upper-end of the county.

            Among the area delegates were John Dimmig, F. M. Moll, Charles Carl, Charles Dimmig, Samuel Kochel, Harvey Heck, William Dimmig, Herbert Barto, and Horace Marks of East Greenville; J. S. Cressman, Isaac Smith, F. F. Sowers, Samuel Sowers, Rev. T. B. Brendle, C. W. Hunsberger, Edgar Houck, John Weidner, and John Snyder of Green Lane; Edwin Reiter, Wilson Yerk, Charles Hendricks, Elmer Reiter, and Nicholas Frey of Hoppenville; Allen Stauffer, M. Krauss, Wayne Rothenberger, and James Butz of Palm; Dr. Oscar S. Kriebel, Dr. Charles Q. Hillegass, Michael Gilbert, William Snyder, Foster Hillegass, R. J. Wieder, Daniel Graber, Allen Dressler, and Rev. George Lutz of Pennsburg;  John Kline, Rev. A. Stump, Robert Jackson, and J. K. Wilfong of Red Hill.  The names represent quite an impressive list of early Upper Perkiomen Valley Community leaders!

            The Commissioners heard about the up-county delegation that was descending on Norristown and attempted to calm the irate locals by announcing that the Green Lane-Goshenhoppen Turnpike would be freed. That was an encouraging slice but the group wanted their fair share of the whole road-improvement pie – and they were prepared to get it.

            When it was his turn, Perkiomen School principal Dr. O.  S. Kriebel pulled no punches when he rose to speak to the Commissioners.  He spoke of the widely felt notion that the Commissioners spend large sums of money on road maintenance and improvements in the lower end, where the roads are already in fine condition.  Many attributed this condition to the alleged fact that the bulk of the taxes were paid by folks in the lower end. 

            However, Kriebel denounced that condition as "wrong and the principle involved as vicious, Bolshevik, and undemocratic".  Stating that there "isn't much difference between the autocrats and Bolsheviki of the world", he argued "the autocrats of the world believed in using the power of the rich for the protection of the rich and exploiting the poor. 

            The Bolsheviks believed in using the power of the poor for the protection of the poor and exploiting the rich.  Democracy, however, believes in using the power of both the rich and the poor for the propagation of the commonwealth, and the exploitation of neither extreme for the benefit of the other."

            Kriebel went on to present figures showing that the tax rate of the upper end is as high as the lower end and with that, he presented two proposals for the Commissioners to consider - freeing the toll roads, which had already been answered, and re-building the road from Collegeville to Palm.  As a final emphasis, Kriebel pointed out that the project could be completed at the same cost ($9,500 per mile) that the Commissioners paid to have the road paved from Norristown to Collegeville a year earlier.

            Commissioner Hatfield offered to give $5,000 per mile provided the State would accept the project as part of their matching dollar plan.  This wasn't good enough for the locals.  They were tired of their roads being ignored and wanted a no-strings attached program, with the County footing the bill if the Commonwealth didn't come through. 

            After a while, Hatfield made his offer again without any conditions.  The local delegation happily accepted the offer - with gratitude. 

            By the way, the Commonwealth had no problem coming through with their half of the money.

            It wasn't long after that, when the Gravel Pike toll-houses were closed, the mud and ruts covered with concrete, and the road went from Montgomery County ownership to become property of the state.