Granite Railway
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The incline section of the Granite Railway, photograph taken in 1934. |
The
Granite Railway was one of the
first railroads in the United States, built to convey granite from
Quincy, Massachusetts to a dock on the Neponset River in
Milton, Massachusetts. From there boats carried the stone to Charlestown for construction of the
Bunker Hill Monument. The last active quarry closed in 1963; in 1985,
Boston's Metropolitan District Commission purchased 22
acres, including Granite Railway Quarry, as the
Quincy Quarries Reservation.
In 1825, after an exhaustive search throughout
New England,
Solomon Willard selected the Quincy site as the source of stone for the
Bunker Hill Monument in
Charlestown. After many delays, and much obstruction, the Railway itself was granted a charter on
March 4,
1826, with right of
eminent domain to establish its
right-of-way. It was designed and built by railway pioneer
Gridley Bryant and began operations on
October 7,
1826. It is often called the first commercial railroad in the United States, as it may have been the first chartered railway to evolve into a
common carrier without an intervening closure.
The Railway ran three
miles (4.8
km) from quarries to the
Neponset River. Its wagons had wheels 6
feet (1.8
m) in diameter and were pulled by
horses, although
steam locomotives had been operation in
England for two decades. The wooden rails were plated with iron and were laid 5 feet (1,524
mm) apart.
In 1830, a new section of the Railway called the Incline was added to haul granite from the Pine Ledge Quarry to the railway level 84 feet (25.6 m) below. Wagons moved up and down the 315 foot (96 m) long Incline in an endless conveyor belt. The Incline continued in operation until the 1940s.
The Railway introduced several important inventions, including
railway switches, the
turntable, and double-truck
railroad cars. In addition it was the site of the first fatal railway accident in the United States, on
July 25,
1832, when the wagon containing Mr.
Thomas B. Achuas, of
Cuba, derailed as he was taking a tour.
The railway's incline was added to the
National Register of Historic Places on
June 19 1973, and the railway itself was added on
October 15 1973.
A centennial historic plaque and original frog from the railway can be found in the gardens on top of the Southeast Expressway as it passes through East Milton Square. The frog had been displayed at the Chicago World Fair in 1893. This is the approximate site of the railway's location as it went through Milton.
A History of the Origin and Development of the Granite Railway at Quincy Massachusetts privately printed for The Granite Railway Company, 1926.
*
Historic American Buildings Survey - Granite Railway, Pine Hill Quarry to Neponset River, Quincy, Norfolk County, MA*
Granite Railway Drawings*
Granite Railway Photographs
