“It is with no ordinary feelings we announce the fact—that a plan for making a railroad from the city of Baltimore to some point on the Ohio River, has been considered and adopted.” These words in a Baltimore newspaper, Niles’ Weekly Register, told the world that a group of businessmen had gotten a charter, 180 years ago today, to build the first public railroad in America.
. . .A year and a half later, the first passengers were riding the B&O. In May 1830 they could travel as far as Ellicott’s Mills, about 10 miles west of the city. The cars, which resembled stagecoaches, were initially pulled by horses over wooden rails capped with iron. Those searching for a better means of propulsion suggested cars driven by the wind or powered by a horse on a treadmill. Both ideas were soon superseded by a more revolutionary concept. In 1830 Peter Cooper’s one-ton locomotive Tom Thumb proved the viability of steam power, and before long the B&O began carrying both passengers and freight in steam-driven trains of cars. To support the weight, cast-iron rails replaced the wooden ones.
Andrew Jackson became the first U.S. President to ride on a railroad, taking a short trip on the B&O in 1833. Two years later, the company opened a line connecting Washington and Baltimore. It was along that route that Samuel F. B. Morse sent the words “What hath God wrought!” 40 miles over wires in 1844. They were the first telecommunication in history.
B&O, of course, stands for Baltimore and Ohio. The line reached the river at Wheeling on New Year’s Day 1853. There’s more by Jack Kelly at AmericanHeritage.com.