Editing Boston Post Road (section)

==History==
The Upper Post Road was originally called the [[Pequot]] Path and had been in use by Native Americans long before Europeans arrived.<ref>Bourne, p.13</ref> Some of these important native trails were in many places as narrow as two feet.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CWYlAAAAMAAJ&q=boston+post+road+indian+moccasin&pg=PA249|title=A History of Connecticut|isbn=9780722249826|last1=Clark|first1=George Larkin|year=1914}}</ref>

What is now called the [[Old Connecticut Path]] and the [[Bay Path]] were used by [[John Winthrop the Younger]] to travel from Boston to Springfield in November 1645, and these form much of the basis for the Upper Post Road.

The colonists first used this trail to deliver the mail using [[post riders]]. The first ride to lay out the Upper Post Road started on January 1, 1673.<ref>Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, January 1917, Vol. 50, page 386, [https://books.google.com/books?id=swILAAAAIAAJ&dq=first+ride+king%27s+highway+post+road+connecticut&pg=PA386]</ref> Later, the newly blazed trail was widened and smoothed to the point where horse-drawn wagons or [[stagecoach]]es could use the road. The country's first successful long-distance stagecoach service was launched by Levi Pease along the upper road in October 1783.<ref name="PORTROAD">[http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/graphics/10_17_10_postroad/ "How the Post Road wrote New England’s history"], ''The Boston Globe''</ref>

During the 19th century, [[Toll road|turnpike]] companies took over and improved pieces of the road. Large sections of the various routes are still called the ''[[King's Highway (Charleston to Boston)|King's Highway]]'' and ''Boston Post Road''. Much of the Post Road is now [[U.S. Route 1]], [[U.S. Route 5]], and [[U.S. Route 20]].

[[Milepost]]s were measured from the intersection of [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] and [[Wall Street]] in New York (one block west of [[Federal Hall]]) and from the old Boston city-line on [[Washington Street (Boston)|Washington Street]], near the present-day [[Massachusetts Turnpike]].

The [[Metropolitan Railroad Company (Boston)|Metropolitan Railroad Company]] was chartered in 1853 to run streetcars down the stretch of the road on Washington Street in Roxbury, which is now served by the [[MBTA Silver Line]]. The Upper and Lower Boston Post Roads were designated U.S. Routes 1 and 20 in 1925 (though Route 20 has since been substantially modified).<ref name="PORTROAD"/>