Timeline story
Lexington & Ohio Railroad
On January 27, 1830, Kentucky chartered the Lexington & Ohio—the commonwealth's first railroad, and among the first west of the Alleghenies—to tie Lexington to the Ohio River.
Track used English strap iron spiked to quarried limestone sills; horses pulled early cars, then steam. The "Daniel Boone" engine made Lexington to Frankfort in about two and a half hours in 1835.
Strap iron and stone crumbled under locomotives and were later replaced with wooden ties and T-rail, but the line cracked open Bluegrass freight toward the river long before the Civil War.
Cite this story
Published . Last revised .
Chicago
Snowden, Shannon. "Lexington & Ohio Railroad." Kentucky History Drive. Published September 12, 2026. Last revised September 12, 2026. https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/lexington-ohio-railroad/.
MLA
Snowden, Shannon. "Lexington & Ohio Railroad." Kentucky History Drive, published 12 Sept. 2026, last revised 12 Sept. 2026, https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/lexington-ohio-railroad/.
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