Lexington & Ohio Railroad

The Lexington & Ohio Railroad was the first railroad in Kentucky, and its charter proposed establishing a link between Lexington and Louisville at the Falls of the Ohio by way of Frankfort. The line's first rails were laid by October 1831, and two miles were in operation by August 1832; the railroad initially used horse-drawn trains. The line to Frankfort was completed by January 1834. While work on the line from Frankfort to Louisville began in 1835, the entire line was never completed, and it collapsed in the wake of the Panic of 1837, and the commonwealth acquired operations and then leased the line. The Lexington & Frankfort Railroad acquired the Lexington & Ohio on February 29, 1848, and subsequently merged with the Louisville & Frankfort Railroads to form the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington Railroad.