THE TOWN GETS A NEW NAME
because he obtained the concession of a lower toll for himself and his neighbors. One historian, in speaking of the boundaries of this road, gave the measurements by chains and links.
At a Town Meeting on October 1, 1887, a resolution was passed that the "Selectmen be authorized to hire the New Haven and Derby Turnpike for the free use of the inhabitants of Orange for a sum not to exceed $240 each year, for a period of five years."
The sign-board which hung on the side of the house, showing the different rates of toll, is now in the New Haven Colony Historical Society on Whitney Avenue, New Haven.
It was always just an ordinary dirt road, and almost impassible in the Spring of the year when the frost was coming out of the ground. When the road was discontinued as a toll-road in 1897, the different towns paid the company certain sums of money for the right of way. Orange paid $800.
The road usually paid its stockholders at the rate of six per-cent. interest. A final dividend of $67.78 per share was declared on its one hundred shares on June 21, 1897, just one year short of a hundred years of existence.
Having acquired the Turnpike at a Town Meeting held April 15, 1897, they voted ''that $3000 be appropriated in making improvements on the highway known as the Derby Turnpike."
TAVERNS
In the days of stage coaches, it was necessary to have taverns, conveniently located, where the passengers, and the horses, too, could rest on the journey. There were three such taverns on the Derby Turnpike, only one of which is in use now.
One of them stood at the corner of College Road, which was owned by the Alling family, later the home of Theron Alling for many years. It was destroyed by fire some years ago. On the old maps, this was marked as ''half-way house." Another was called Sun-rise Tavern and was
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