The plank road was chartered on March 25, 1851, running from North Street in Wattsburg to the state line, where it would continue to Sherman.

PA 474 continues to the northeast in the farmlands in rural Erie County, passing small patches of woodlands for most of its length.

The plank road was first chartered on March 25, 1851, when the Pennsylvania State Legislature enacted eight commissioners to start the private highway.

The charter detailed that the to-be-constructed plank road was assigned to head from the intersection with North Street in the community of Wattsburg to the New York state line, where it ended near the house of J.B. Foote, a local.

They were also given a timetable for the construction of the new highway, that if the road was not completed between 1854 and 1858, the charter would be null and void and money would be necessary to repay the state and debts of the company.