Zanesville City Schools

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Our School

National Road Elementary Schoo... \ Our School

Our School

The National Road was one of the first major improved highways in the United States to be built by the federal government. Construction began in 1811 at Cumberland, Md. The roadway crossed the Allegheny Mountains into southwestern Pennsylvania, and reached Wheeling, Va. (now W.Va.) in 1818. The original road plans had the western terminus at St. Louis, Mo., but the road stopped at Vandalia, Ill., when the project ran out of funding.

The road became a gateway to the West for thousands of settlers, and is believed to be the first road in the United States to use the new Macadam road surfacing process. Today, the original alignment is mostly followed by U.S. 40, along which our school building now stands. In keeping with the road's long tradition of segments used at turpikes, the road in front of our school is known locally as East Pike.

Zanesville itself has long been a major part of the National Road. U.S. 40 in downtown Zanesville is known as Main Street, and the road crosses the famous and unique Y Bridge on the western edge of the downtown area. The Y Bridge, pictured above, was constructed to allow traffic to span the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum rivers.

The roadway was designated "The Historic National Road," and "All-American Road," by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta in 2002.

National Road Elementary School opened in 2005, a consolidation of the district's Pleasant Grove, McKinley and Pioneer elementary schools.