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Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad

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Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad
Company typeRailroad company
IndustryRail transport
PredecessorThe Cincinnati and Charleston Rail Road Company
Founded1835 or 1836
FateConsolidated into South Carolina Rail Road Company in 1844; foreclosed and ownership transferred to South Carolina Railway Company in 1881
Headquarters
South Carolina
,
United States
Area served
South Carolina, Georgia
Key people
Robert Y. Hayne (first president), John C. Calhoun (board member), Robert Mills (board member), James Gadsden (president 1840–1850)
ProductsRail transport services

The Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad was an antebellum rail line operating in South Carolina and Augusta, Georgia. It utilized a broad gauge track.

History

Initially chartered between 1835 and 1836 across South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky as The Cincinnati and Charleston Rail Road Company, the enterprise sought to link with the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company route running from Charleston to Hamburg, South Carolina, and to extend this connection to the Ohio River near Cincinnati, Ohio. The company adopted the name The Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston Rail Road Company during 1836–1837. However, challenges in obtaining charters from all states along the intended path led to abandoning the original scheme.

The railroad's first president was former South Carolina Governor Robert Y. Hayne, with notable board members such as John C. Calhoun and architect Robert Mills. In 1840, leadership passed to James Gadsden, who served for a decade. Gadsden was a proponent of a Southern transcontinental railroad and played a key role in negotiating the Gadsden Purchase, securing over from Mexico at a cost of $10 million to advance this project.

Following successful fundraising efforts in 1838, the company obtained controlling stock interest in the Charleston-Hamburg line operated by the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company. By 1840, it had built a stretch connecting Branchville, South Carolina with Columbia, South Carolina.

In 1844, for $2.4 million, the Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad purchased the stock, assets, and corporate rights of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company. Subsequently, under an 1843 legislative act by the South Carolina General Assembly, these entities consolidated as the South Carolina Railroad Company.

From 1848 through 1853, the South Carolina Rail Road Company extended its network by constructing a line linking Kingsville, South Carolina to Camden, South Carolina, along with a bridge line spanning the Savannah River, which connected Hamburg to Augusta, Georgia.

On November 1, 1881, following foreclosure proceedings, ownership transferred to organizers of The South Carolina Railway Company, which had been incorporated under South Carolina statutes in October 1881 and later amended in 1885.[1][2]

Further reading

  • Grant, H. Roger. The Louisville, Cincinnati, and Charleston Rail Road: Dreaming of Linking North and South (Indiana University Press, 2014) xvi, 191 pp.

References

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named 37Val521
  2. ↑ "The" appeared in various corporate titles such as The Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad Company but was not part of the South Carolina Rail Road Company's name.
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