Grayson County TXGenWeb

C L Mile Marker

The Odessa American
(Odessa, Texas)
Saturday, December 22, 1984
pg. 7

HOBBYIST LOCATES REMAINING BEN FRANKLIN MILE MARKERS
East Brookfield, Massachusetts (AP) - It took 20 years of traversing the northern route of the old Boston Post Road, but Howard Drake can boast of seeing all surviving stone mile markers ordered placed by Benjamin Franklin.
"Every once in a while, someone will call up and say, 'I found one. Betcha don't have it.' But I always do," said Drake, 80.
Benjamin Franklin, postmaster under King George II, ordered the markers erected in 1753 at one-mile intervals to regulate postal rates by establishing communities from Boston to New York City.
The road was divided into northern, central and southern routes, beginning in Boston, converging in New Haven, Connecticut, and ending in New York.