Key Figures in Railroad History

Robert Meek was born on November 22, 1823, in Dutchess County, New York. He entered the railroad industry in 1848, initially working as a machinist and later held other roles, including engineer and master machinist.

From September 1886 until 1870, he served as the assistant superintendent and superintendent of the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville Railroad. He then went to the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, serving as a division superintendent of the line between Bowling Green, Kentucky, to Paris, Tennessee, until 1873.

Between 1873 and 1881, he was the superintendent of the South & North Alabama Railroad. Later, he was the general superintendent of the Paducah & Elizabethtown and the Chesapeake & Ohio railroads. From 1884 to 1885, he worked with the Wabash, Chester & Western Railway.

In 1885, he was appointed superintendent of the Chesapeake & Nashville. He held the position until he died in Gallatin, Tennessee, on December 10, 1903.

On June 25, 1855, William B. Munford was elected as president of the Memphis, Clarksville and Louisville Railroad. Munford, a native of Danville, Kentucky, moved to Clarksville in 1839 and ensconced himself in many aspects of the community before his death on July 9, 1859. Within a year of his appointment, he and fellow railroad officials met with their colleagues at the Memphis & Nashville in Paris, Tennessee, to examine a consolidation of their roads. The discussion did not yield a merger.