New York State Route 73

The area that is now known as the hamlet of Keene—the modern junction of NY 9N and NY 73—was first settled at the beginning of the 19th century. Many of the early settlers arrived in the region by traveling along a rough and nearly unusable highway connecting what became Keene to Jay in the north and Lewis in the east.[5] By 1810, part of the crude roadway had been supplanted by a privately funded highway leading westward from Westport to at least North Elba and possibly to Saranac Lake by way of Keene. On April 5, 1810, the New York State Legislature passed an act establishing a new state highway linking Westport to Hopkinton by way of Keene and Saranac Lake. The highway incorporated the entirety of the pre-existing roadway between Westport and Saranac Lake.[6]

NY 73 through Keene Valley as seen from Rooster Comb Mountain

Initially, the state highway was poorly constructed and largely impassable, mirroring the condition of the roadways that preceded it. An act passed by the state legislature on June 19, 1812, indicated that the funds that had been allocated to the highway were "entirely inadequate to open and improve" the road. On April 17, 1816, the state attempted to correct the issue by approving a measure that appointed two sets of commissioners to oversee the reconstruction of the highway. Each set was to work on opposite ends of the route and eventually converge at a point midway along the route. Work on the highway was completed by 1818. The road was officially named the "North West Bay Road"; however, it eventually became known as the "Old Military Road".[6] The route did not enter the village of Lake Placid; instead, it bypassed it to the southwest. This portion of the highway is still known today by the latter name.[7]

The highway through Keene Valley from Underwood to Keene was built by 1846.[8] At its southern end, it connected to a major stagecoach road that connected Albany to the Canadian border. The route fostered the rise of local lumber and tanning industries; up to 40 wagon loads of timber used the stagecoach route daily. Various hotels and taverns opened in the nearby town of North Hudson to serve travelers along the route.[9]

Scenic view from Route 73 in Keene, NY.

In 1909, the state of New York began to take control of many private highways across the state under the terms of the new highway law developed in 1908.[10] One of these highways was the old north–south stagecoach road from Albany to Canada. Most of the highway north of modern NY 8 in Chester became the northern half of Route 22, an unsigned legislative route, under the text of the highway law.[11] In 1913, the New York State Legislature created Route 22-b, a spur route connecting Route 22 in Schroon to the then-village of Ticonderoga.[12][13] On March 1, 1921, Route 22-b became part of Route 48, a new route created as part of a partial renumbering of New York's legislative route system.[14] The path of the former Albany–Canada stagecoach route was largely designated as US 9 in 1927.[15]

Signage at the former western terminus of NY 73 in Schroon

NY 73 was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York; however, it did not initially follow any of its modern routing. It began at an intersection with NY 28N in Tahawus and followed the Blue Ridge Road east to US 9 in North Hudson. From there, it overlapped US 9 south to Schroon, where it proceeded eastward on the former legislative Route 48 to Ticonderoga, where it ended at a junction with NY 22. At the time, modern NY 73 from Lake Placid to Keene—identical to the old North West Bay Road east of the Lake Placid area—was assigned NY 86A.[2][16] The remainder of what is now NY 73 from Keene south to Underwood was designated as NY 427 within a year's time.[16][17]

The portion of NY 73 between Tahawus and North Hudson was removed from the state highway system c. 1936. As a result, NY 73 was truncated to a new western terminus at US 9 in Schroon, eliminating the concurrency with US 9.[18][19] To the north, NY 427 was supplanted by an extended NY 86A c. 1938.[20][21] In November 1952, NY 73 was extended eastward through Ticonderoga to the ferry dock on Lake Champlain, where it connected to the Fort Ticonderoga–Larrabees Point Ferry.[22] The change supplanted NY 347,[23][24] a short spur route off NY 22 that had been in place since c. 1934.[25][26] A month earlier, NY 73 was extended northward to Lake Placid via Underwood and Keene, replacing NY 86A and overlapping US 9 from Severance to Underwood.[27] NY 73 was truncated to its current eastern terminus in Underwood on July 1, 1971, eliminating the 16-mile (26 km) overlap with US 9. Its former routing from Schroon to Lake Champlain was renumbered to NY 74.[28]

NY 73 approaching a steep grade with a mountain of the Adirondacks in view

On September 14, 1994, the state of New York signed a proposal to turn NY 73 into a scenic byway into law.[29] The 30-mile (48 km) byway, known as the "High Peaks Scenic Byway",[30] begins at the western terminus of NY 73 in Lake Placid and follows NY 73 and US 9 to Interstate 87 exit 30.[31][32] In December 1994, the group Scenic America designated the highway as one of the ten most scenic areas in the nation.[29]