Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company

On 31 August 1868 the Covington and Ohio Railroad Company and the Virginia Central Railroad Company merged to form the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company. In 1870 the Blue Ridge Railroad was added to the company. After defaulting, the company was reorganized in 1878 as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company. The road ran from Ft. Monroe, Va. to Chicago, Ill. Today, after many mergers, the company is part of CSX Transporation.

One of the oldest railroads in America, the Chesapeake and Ohio was created by an act of the Virginia legislature in 1826. Known as the Louisa Railroad prior to 1868, a major source of the C & O's income was for many years hauling coal from the coal fields of Virginia and West Virginia to ports along the Potomac River and to industries in the midwest. During the 1920s, the C & O was owned by the Van Sweringen brothers, with corporate offices in Cleveland's Terminal Tower. Cyrus Eaton served as chairman of the board for nearly 20 years beginning in 1954. In 1962, the C & O was merged with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to create the Chessie System, which, along with Seaboard Coastline Industries, make up the CSX Corporation.