Maroondah Highway (also known as Whitehorse Road from Deepdene to Mitcham) is a major east–west thoroughfare in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and a highway connecting the north-eastern fringes of Melbourne to the lower alpine region of Victoria, Australia. Route Whitehorse Road/Maroondah Hwy begins as a continuation of Cotham Road at Burke Road, through the suburbs of Balwyn and Deepdene. At this point, it is a typical inner-Melbourne, four lane, single carriageway arterial road. The route 109 tram also runs along this stretch of the road. The road continues through Mont Albert, until its intersection with Elgar Road in Box Hill, where the road becomes a four lane dual carriageway with trams running down the central median strip. Burke Road and Elgar Roads being the east and west boundaries of Captain Elgar's original two mile square property. The tram terminates at Market Street, a few blocks further on. It passes through the suburbs of Blackburn, Nunawading and Mitcham. From Ringwood, the road is known only as Maroondah Highway and it continues north-east past Croydon towards Lilydale where it becomes a rural highway. There is a moderately steep and moderately twisty section through forest between Healesville and Buxton, and the road then continues through farmland all the way through to Mansfield via Alexandra and Bonnie Doon. History In the 1850s, Whitehorse Road was built to be the primary route from Melbourne to Gippsland, a rather circuitous route which went via the Dandenong Ranges. Today the primary route is now via the Monash and Princes Freeways. The road, when first built, was named Three Chain Road, due to the road width being wide. The traffic led to the establishment of a hotel in Box Hill named the White Horse hotel which had been named for a horse belonging to Captain Elgar, a property owner in the area. It is this hotel of which the road obtained its name. However, the hotel was forced to shut its doors in 1921 when Box Hill became a dry area. A replica of the white horse from the roof of the hotel now stands in the median strip of Whitehorse Road, while the restored original is located in the Box Hill Town Hall. The passing of the Highways and Vehicles Act of 1924 through the Parliament of Victoria provided for the declaration of State Highways, roads two-thirds financed by the State government through the Country Roads