By 1808Delaware
At only 26.19 miles in length, it is one of the shorter state highways in Ohio. That said, there are few which are more scenic.
Starting at a roundabout in Dublin, Ohio State Route 257 is, for much of its length, closely tied to the Scioto River. With a southern terminus at a roundabout where US 33 and State Route 161 intersect, the highway travels through Franklin, Delaware, and Marion Counties, ending at State Route 47 just west of Prospect.
In six years, State Route 257 will be celebrating its centennial. Originally, the highway included only the portion which travels northward from Dublin along the east side of the Scioto; it was then expanded beginning in 1935.
The route does have a bit of a claim to fame. In 1975, the Ohio General Assembly gave it a memorial highway designation:
“The road known as state route number two hundred fifty-seven running in a north and south direction, commencing at the municipal corporation of Prospect and extending through the counties of Marion, Delaware, and Franklin to its point of junction with United States route number thirty-three shall be known as the “General Thaddeus Kosciusko Memorial Highway.”
State Route 257 is one of only two such highways in the country, the other being in New Jersey, commemorating the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Polish-Lithuanian military engineer, statesman, and military leader who became a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the United States.
In Delaware County, it also bears the name “Riverside Drive.”
Along its short route lie the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, the O’Shaughnessy Dam, and the former communities of Bellpoint, Warrensburg, and White Sulfur Springs Station.
