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The Pittsburgh and Steubenville Railroad Company was incorporated under an act of Legislature, approved March 24, 1849, which conferred "power to construct a railroad commencing on the Monongahela River near Pittsburgh, and running in the direction of Steubenville, on the Ohio River, to a point on the Virginia State line," the work of construction to be commenced within three years and completed within eight years from the passage of the act. In 1852 a supplemental act was passed (which became a law April 21st in that year) authorizing the company to connect its line with that of the Pennsylvania Railroad and with any other railroad at the Virginia line, also to construct branches as deemed expedient. Another supplement was passed Feb. 24, 1853, authorizing the commissioners of Allegheny County, under a recommendation by the grand jury, to subscribe ten thousand dollars to the stock of the road. On the 20th of April, in the same year, the Pittsburgh and Steubenville Railroad Company was authorized to borrow not exceeding five hundred thousand dollars, and issue its bonds therefor, and the city of Philadelphia was authorized to subscribe four thousand shares of the stock of the company.

The construction of the road was put under contract in June, 1852, and work was commenced on it soon afterwards, but did not progress rapidly. On the 26th of January, 1854, it was announced that "the tunnel at Dinsmore Summit is progressing at a rate that will complete it by June next," but the work was suspended soon afterwards, and eleven years elapsed before it was completed. In Sseptember, 1857, it was announced that arrangements had been made with King & Thompson, by which the work would be pushed to a speedy completion. Finally, after many discouraging delays, the road was finished, the trains running for the first time over the entire length on the permanent track in October, 1865. But the affairs of the company were not prosperous, and the road was sold under foreclosure Nov. 6,1867. In May,1868, a consolidation was formed of the Pittsburgh and Steubenville, the "Panhandle," the Holliday's Cove (West Virginia), and Steubenville and Indiana Railroads, all being placed under one management and known as the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway, making a line of one hundred and ninety three miles in length, from Pittsburgh to Columbus, Ohio. The same arrangement and name and style of the road still continues. The stations on the main line within the county of Washington are McDonald, Midway, Bulger, Cardville or Burgettstown, Dinsmore, and Hanlan's.

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Last modified: 31-Dec-2002

Source document: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916. "History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men" edited by Boyd Crumrine ; Illustrated. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts and Co., 1882.