New York State Route 273

On April 11, 1820, the New York State Legislature created the Hampton and Whitehall Turnpike Road Company, a privately owned tasked with building the Hampton and Whitehall Turnpike. According to the act incorporating the company, the highway would begin at a bridge in the town of Hampton (at the Poultney River) and follow "the most convenient route" to the community of Whitehall Landing on Wood Creek[6] (the modern village of Whitehall[7]) in the town of Whitehall.[6]

The Hampton and Whitehall Turnpike Road Company was initially financed through 800 shares of stock valued at $20 each. Under the text of the act establishing the entity, only one toll gate was permitted on the turnpike. The toll charged at the gate varied by person; the exact amount was based on the vehicle used and the number of livestock and horses that were brought onto the roadway.[6] By 1920, the turnpike company ceased to exist and the state of New York had plans in place to improve the portion of the turnpike west of the hamlet of East Whitehall. The improved road would be part of a state highway extending from the village of Whitehall to the Vermont state line at Fair Haven, Vermont.[8] The contract for the project was awarded on April 5, 1921,[9] and the highway was completed by 1926.[10]

CR 18 reassurance shield in Whitehall

When the Whitehall–Fair Haven highway first opened, it did not have a designation. However, the road was part of the proposed routing of US 4, a route in the new U.S. Highway System.[10] It officially became part of US 4 when the system was officially approved in November of that year.[11] In the early 1940s, construction began on a new highway between Whitehall and Fair Haven that bypassed East Whitehall to the northwest.[12][13] It was completed by 1946, at which time it became a realignment of US 4.[14] On January 1, 1949, the old Hampton and Whitehall Turnpike was designated as NY 273, a new route connecting US 4 east of Whitehall to the Vermont state line in Hampton.[3][15]

In 1980, NY 273 was removed from the state highway system as part of a highway maintenance swap between the state of New York and Washington County. On April 1, 1980, ownership and maintenance of NY 273 was transferred from the state of New York to Washington County;[16] however, the NY 273 designation had officially ceased to exist one week earlier on March 24, 1980.[4] Following the swap, the former routing of NY 273 was redesignated as CR 18 while the short connector to Vermont became part of CR 18A, then a loop route off NY 22A.[17] CR 18A has since been reconfigured to follow a new highway leading directly from NY 22A to the Poultney River bridge.[18]