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National Road Bicentennial Historical Marker Unveiled at Tadmor
September 19, 2006
In recognition of the 2006 Bicentennial of Thomas Jefferson’s signing of the legislation which authorized the construction of the Historic National Road, the Ohio Historical Society (OHS) awarded grants for three historical markers. These grants were funded through the Longaberger Legacy Initiative and its association with the Ohio Bicentennial Commission. On September 19, 2006 the second of the OHS National Road Bicentennial Markers was unveiled near the trailhead that leads to the ruins of the Village of Tadmor. Represented at the ceremony were the Ohio Historical Society, the Ohio National Road Association (ONRA), Taylorsville MetroPark, the City of Vandalia, and the Historical Society of Vandalia-Butler. Unfortunately, this marker was subsequently destroyed by vandals.
 Present for the Tadmor National Road Bicentennial Marker ceremony were (left to right) OHS representative and ONRA Board member Glenn Harper, Taylorsville MetroPark representative and ONRA Board member Mark Davis, Ohio District 36 Representative Arlene Setzer, ONRA President Ed Kemper, Five Rivers MetroPark Executive Director Charlie Shoemaker, and Tadmor historian Tim Garwood. Also present (not pictured) were ONRA Board members Cyndie Gerken and Paul Seibel. |
 The text for the marker reads as follows: TheVillage of Tadmor is significant as being the location of one of the most important centers of transportation in early Ohio history. As early as 1809, keelboats were poled up river from Dayton to load and unload freight in the village. By 1837, the Miami and Erie Canal had reached Tadmor, connecting it to the Ohio River in the south and Lake Erie in the north. In the 1830s, the National Road was constructed through Tadmor, connecting it to points east and west. In 1851, the Dayton & Michigan Railroad established freight and passenger service to the growing town. Residents hoped that Tadmor's strategic location would help it prosper; however, successive flooding on the Great Miami River stifled growth. Tadmor was finally abandoned when a dam constructed by the Miami Conservancy District in 1922 to retain water during flooding made the site uninhabitable. |
Marker back text "The National Road": Authorized by Congress in 1806, the National Road was the nation's first federally funded interstate highway. National leaders desired an all-weather road across the Allegheny Mountains in order to develop closer political and economic ties between the east and west. Considered to be a significant engineering feat, the Road opened Ohio and much of the Old Northwest Territory to settlement, provided access for Ohio goods to reach eastern markets, and enabled Ohio citizens to play important roles in the affairs of the new nation. The National Road was renowned for the number of quality inns and taverns during the heyday of the stagecoach. The Road declined after 1850 as railroads became the preferred method of travel. The automobile, however, brought new life to the Road. Reborn as U.S. 40, it became a busy twenty-four-hour-day artery, with truck stops, motor courts, and diners until superseded by the interstate highways in the 1960s. |
