History of Linden Depot Genealogical Society of Montgomery County Crawfordsville Library – March 13, 2018 Introduction I realize that I probably do not appear to fit the profile of one who is interested in trains. However, I have always had a love of and a connection to trains. Before she got married, my Grandmother worked as a clerk for the “B&O Railroad” in Baltimore. Later, the train ran behind my Grandparents’ house; when I was a young child, I remember waving to the engineer as the train passed by and he would blow the whistle for me. My grandfather rode that train when he traveled from Baltimore to New York on business, and when I was visiting their house, he would sit on the side of the train where I could see him at the window and he would wave to me as he passed by. Page 1 of 50 I was raised in Ellicott City, Maryland, the site of the oldest surviving train station in the United States and one of the oldest in the world. The town of Ellicott City, which was originally known as Ellicott Mills, is 13 miles west of Baltimore. Ellicott City Station was originally built to serve the horse- drawn “railroad” cars that traveled to and from the Baltimore Harbor. The original wooden rails were eventually replaced with durable iron rails. The station still stands and is now a branch of the B&O Railroad Museum. Page 2 of 50 My name is Elizabeth Carroll Hendrickson; I am a direct descendent of Mary Clare Carroll, the sister of Charles Carroll, Barrister. His home, Mount Clare is named for their grandmother, Mary Clare Dunn Carroll, born in 1727, who is my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother (that’s 7 greats.) In 1829, the heirs of the Barrister’s estate, donated land from the estate to be used for the “B&O Railroad” right-of-way and for the depot known as Mount Clare Station. Page 3 of 50 The building which was originally the Mount Clare Shops, as well as the Roundhouse added later, now house the “B&O Railroad” Museum, which sits next to the Barrister’s home, Mount Clare, which is also now a museum. The B&O Railroad was the first commercial long-distance railroad track in the United States, and Mount Clare Station was the first passenger station. The already existing Ellicott City Station became the terminus of this first 13-mile long commercial track. Page 4 of 50 I am also related to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the leader of the Maryland Syndicate which founded the “B&O Railroad”; it was he who laid the “First Stone” or cornerstone on July 4, 1828 for the beginning of the railroad, his last documented public act. The objective of the railroad was to connect Baltimore with the Ohio River and other points west. Initially it was thought that the railroad cars would continue to be pulled by horses. But many people Page 5 of 50 thought horses would not be strong enough to travel such long distances, and no match for the mountainous terrain that would have to be traversed. These same people believed that the answer was to use a new-fangled device called the steam engine, a locomotive engineered by Peter Cooper of New York. By 1830, the “B&O Railroad” iron track had been extended the 13 miles to the west to the village of Ellicott’s Mills. The members of the Maryland Syndicate gathered to see the test run of a diminutive locomotive, appropriately named the “Tom Thumb.” The inventor, Peter Cooper, worked the controls, while the Syndicate members and friends rode along in an open car. It took less than an hour to make the journey to Ellicott’s Mills with a top speed of 18 mph! Page 6 of 50 On the return trip, an impromptu race with a horse-drawn car on the adjacent wooden rail track ensued. While it appeared that the locomotive would surely win, a belt broke on the steam engine, causing it to stop in order to be repaired. So the horse-drawn car won the “Tom Thumb” race, but the steam locomotive had proven its worth. But enough on the Carrolls and the “B&O Railroad.” I have another relative, Calvin Stewart Brice who was one of the founders of the “Nickel Plate Railroad,” and a descendant of the Brice family of Page 7 of 50 Annapolis, Maryland. Calvin Stewart Brice started his work with Railroads as a lawyer for the “Lake Erie and Louisville Railroad,” and eventually became President of the then-known “Lake Erie and Western Railroad.” He became further involved with at least 10 different railroad lines, but his most important achievement was his role in the construction of the Nickel Plate Railroad in 1882, which he sold for great profit to William Henry Vanderbilt. His love of trains continued as he became involved with railroad projects in China at the end of the 19th century. I, too, am a direct descendant of the Brice family of Annapolis, specifically my great-great-great- great-great-great grandfather John Brice I (that’s 6 greats!) who was born in 1704. The Brice name appears in several generations of my family, including as the middle name of my middle son, Stephen Brice Hendrickson. So when my father gave me my first Gilbert HO-scale model steam locomotive at the age of 4, the die was already cast. I dearly loved my first electric train: it smoked, had wonderful articulating action and still runs today. At the age of 9, I alone fully wired and assembled an entire 8 x 10 foot HO train layout with only verbal directions from my father who was confined to bed with a back injury. I have an extensive HO-gauge train collection of my own today. I have been the Vice President of the Linden Depot Museum since August of 2010. But my real topic for this talk is the: History of the Linden Depot and the related History of the Nickel Plate and Monon Railroads Page 8 of 50 Before there were trains, people used animals for transportation, both of themselves, and of the goods that they were sending to market, or receiving from market. The speed on land was determined by how far a horse could travel in a day. Most roads were made of dirt, which became unusable after a heavy rain. There were many tales of horse-drawn wagons which got stuck in the mud. A 100-mile trip was considered a HUGE voyage at this time; so much so, that most people traveled that far only one or two times in their lifetime. This led early settlers to try using boats on the rivers for transportation. While this was at times faster and less complicated than land travel, when rivers froze in the winter months, they became impassible. During periods of drought, there often was not enough water to enable the passing of sizeable boats, and during periods of flooding, the currents became too dangerous. Page 9 of 50 Improvements to water transportation came in the form of creating canals which connected bodies of water together to make longer, more useable routes. It appeared to many that this mode of travel would ultimately be the best way to transport goods and people. But there were other people with other ideas, one of which involved the use of horse drawn cars, with the cars riding on wooden rails. This solved the problem of the fluctuating condition of dirt roads, and seemed a logical way to at least get the goods and people from one town to another, or at least to another transportation source such as a canal. In 1830, New Albany was the largest city in Indiana. Indianapolis was barely a village. Why? Because New Albany was situated on the Ohio River and had a relatively easy way to transfer the goods produced there to lucrative markets in the east. But the people of New Albany had heard of the now famous “Tom Thumb” race and were beginning to show some interest in this newest form of transportation. This early experiment had proved the worth of the steam locomotive, and opened up a whole new world of transportation possibilities. Page 10 of 50 Later that same year, the first American-built locomotive, the “Best Friend of Charleston” was successfully debuted on the “South Carolina Railroad,” adding credence to the viability of steam-powered trains. Two years later, in 1832, and in the wake of these eastern railroad successes, the Indiana legislature chartered 8 possible railroad lines through Indiana; “zero” of these were realized! This was because the Committee on Canals and Internal Improvements recommended that state funds instead be committed to the building of canals. Four years later, in 1836, Governor Noah Noble signed “An Act to Provide for a General System of Internal Improvements” which authorized the borrowing of up to $10.5 million for projects which included not only extending and completing the Wabash and Erie Canal but a new railroad line to run from Madison on the Ohio River to Lafayette on the Wabash River, and going by way of Indianapolis. In 1838, Governor James Wallace along with legislators and other dignitaries rode on an inspection trip of the first leg of this new railroad which started at North Madison, Indiana and went to Graham’s Ford, some 15 miles away. They traveled at the very fast speed of 8 mph on this new railroad that became known as the “Madison, Indianapolis and Lafayette Railroad.” Page 11 of 50 The first steam locomotive intended to be used for this new railroad was lost at sea on its way to New Orleans.