Proposed Branch Railroads with the Old Colony Railroad, Massachusetts, 1847
date: label: date made
content: 1847
notes: label: Description
content: This 1847 map displays proposed branch railroads of the Old Colony Railroad in Massachusetts. It was created by T. J. Carter C.E. and measures 28 5/8" x 21 1/2". It depicts the railroad as originating in Boston and stretching south into towns such as Monroe, James River Pond, and even all the way to Providence, Rhode Island. It is a lithograph and has some tears on the right-hand side and a small tear in the middle.
label: Description
content: The Massachusetts State Legislature chartered the Old Colony Railroad on March 16, 1844, with the title ‘Old Colony’ being a colloquial term for the Plymouth Colony that preceded the state. Over the next five decades, the Old Colony Railroad line grew extensively through different mergers and acquisitions with different railroads. For example, as proposed on this map, the Fall River Railroad was consolidated with Old Colony to create the Old Colony & Fall River Railroad. This map demonstrates railroad expansion during the mid-nineteenth century as the technology became more ubiquitous.
label: Description
content: By 1866, it had become the Old Colony & Newport Railroad as the company’s lines stretched further into New England. In 1893, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad acquired the Old Colony railroad, ultimately subsuming most of the railroads, trolley lines, and steamships in the Northeast.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Civil Engineering
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Howard F. Greene
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1981.0748.01
label: accession number
content: 1981.0748
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0748.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Map
label: Other Terms
content: Map; Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 28 7/8 in x 21 3/4 in; 73.3425 cm x 55.245 cm