Baltimore Pike

The Baltimore Pike was an auto trail in the United States, connecting Baltimore, Maryland, with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Today, parts of the road are signed as U.S. Route 1, U.S. Route 13, and a small portion of Pennsylvania Route 41. A section of the road within the city limits of Philadelphia and surrounding boroughs is known as Baltimore Avenue, although locals are known to call the Delaware County portion "Baltimore Pike". In further western suburbs, some sections retain the formal name "Baltimore Pike." Today, Baltimore Avenue's eastern terminus is at 38th Street in Philadelphia, where it intersects with Woodland Avenue (from Southwest Philadelphia and the borough of Darby) and funnels into University Avenue The road used to continue to Market Street until the University City area was redeveloped.

History
Despite its name, the road was not itself a former turnpike, but portions were, including Baltimore and Jerusalem Turnpike between Baltimore and Bel Air, Maryland. The road's easternmost part was another such section: the Chaddsford Turnpike, depicted on an 1843 map running from Mill Creek (present-day 43rd Street in West Philadelphia) to the western limits of Philadelphia County, in the direction of Chadds Ford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.[6]

Its northern section was renamed Pennsylvania Route 12 in 1924.[7] Much of the route was renamed U.S. Route 1 in 1926.

Until 1928, the route crossed the Susquehanna Riveron the Conowingo Bridge, which was destroyed and replaced by the Conowingo Dam.

Baltimore Avenue formerly continued northward to Market Street as part of Woodland Avenue; this segment was stricken from the City street plan in the late 1950s due to redevelopment by the University of Pennsylvania and what is now Drexel University.[citation needed]