Montgomery Road use to be a toll road
Did you know that Montgomery Road used to be a toll road? It went from the area that today is downtown Cincinnati to Columbus. It is thought to have opened as early as 1824. Charles Dickens wrote about his travels through Cincinnati andthe town about 13 miles from Cincinnati” (which would be Montgomery) in his American Notes book. He called the toll road a ‘rare blessing.’ The 13-mile tollhouse, which was built in 1836, was on Montgomery Road right across from where Chester’s Roadhouse used to be. There were other tollhouses built on intersections of Montgomery Road and Kenwood Road, Plainfield and Montgomery, Hopewell and Montgomery and Mason and Montgomery. Rates for using the toll road were two cents per mile for a horse rig and three cents per mile for a team and wagon. Pedestrians were charged one cent to use the toll road as well.