Overview
On Oct. 7, 1826, the Granite Railway began operations in Massachusetts, becoming the first chartered railway in the United States. The railway, which received its charter on March 4, 1826, was built to transport granite from quarries in Quincy for construction of the Bunker Hill Monument.
Thomas Handasyd Perkins, a businessman and state lawmaker, organized financing for the company and was its president. Gridley Bryant, a railway pioneer, designed and built the roughly three-mile-long line, adapting British railway practices to accommodate the heavy loads and New England’s climate.
Horse-drawn wagons carried granite from the quarries to the Neponset River. The original track consisted of wooden rails capped with iron and laid on stone crossties. However, by 1837, the wooden rails had been replaced with granite rails, also topped with iron.
Quick Facts
- Date
- Oct. 7, 1826