Soon after the opening of the National road, a company was organized for the purpose of building a pike from Xenia, Greene County, to Jefferson, Madison Co , Ohio. It was called the Jefferson, South Charleston & Xenia Turnpike Company. In the course of time, the road was completed and opened for traffic. It runs almost parallel with the Little Miami Railroad, and, entering the county from Clark, a short distance north of where the railroad strikes the county line, it runs in a northeast direction, passing through London on its route to Jefferson, and there intersects the National road.
The Madison & Fayette Turnpike was also built by a private corporation. It starts at London and runs in a southern direction through Newport and Midway to the Fayette County line.
The Urbana pike was the third and only other road in Madison County built by a private company. It begins at the National road, about a mile and a half west of Jefferson, and runs in a northwest course to Mechanicsburg, Champaign County, leaving Madison County near the northwest corner of Somerford Township. These three pikes, with the National road, were the only ones in Madison County on which tolls were charged the traveling public. All other pikes were as free as they are to-day, and were built by the county, under an act of the General Assembly of Ohio, passed April 5, 1866. The first petition was presented to the Commissioners of Madison County June 5, 1866, by F. O. P. Graham, et al., for the improvementof the London & Mt. Sterling road. Viewers, Benjamin Harrison, E. Bidwell and Robert Read. The road was granted September 6, 1866 The length of this road is seventeen miles. The following statement shows the number of roads, etc., in the county, made under this act up to January 1, 1883: Number of roads, 47; length, 255 miles; total cost, $569,098.73. A few years ago, the tolls were taken off these four roads, since which time every road in Madison County is as free as the air we breathe.
At the present time, few counties in the State can boast better roads. A network of gravel pikes intersects every part of the county. These, in the aggregate, amount to 324 miles in length, and at a total cost, not including the National road, of $635,350. They were constructed on petition of parties interested in the proposed improvement, and paid for in installments, running through a certain number of years, by assessments on the real estate supposed to be benefited. The work of building pikes still goes on, under the supervision of competent men, employed by the County Commissioners, and if good roads is one of the signs of an advanced civilization, as all political economists say they are, Madison County need not be ashamed of her record.