Pennsylvania Route 134 - History

History

In 1808, the county court approved a petition for a road from Gettysburg past Black's Mill on Rock Creek to the road from "Routsough's Mill to Tawney Town", Maryland. In 1841, the first bridge of two 60-foot (18 m) covered spans was built on the creek downstream of the Black's Mill dam, and the bridge and a downstream ford were used by Union troops during the Battle of Gettysburg. From 1894 to 1916, the Gettysburg Electric Railway operated over 800 feet (240 m) of the road on the south slope of Cemetery Hill. Just to the south of the tracks in c. 1903, a battlefield "avenue tablet" was placed to identify the road. After part of the "Taneytown and Gettysburg Road" near the Gettysburg Battlefield was ceded to the United States Department of War in 1905 following Congressional authorization, 2,443 feet (745 m) from the borough line to beyond Meade's headquarters was "reconstructed on the Telford system" (graded and "piked") to a width of 16 feet (4.9 m). A west gate for the Gettysburg National Cemetery was built on Taneytown Road at Cemetery Hill, followed by the nearby entrance gate to the Gettysburg National Military Park designed by Emmor Cope for Grand Central Avenue's north end on the Taneytown Road's west side. In 1915, the portion of the road from Steinwehr Avenue to the United States arsenal was macadamized. By 1930, PA 134 was assigned to its current alignment between the Maryland border and US 15 (now US 15 Business), with the section south of Round Top under construction. The section under construction was completed by 1940.