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44 • Railroad Conventions WhilenotallrailroadprojectsconceivedduringtheRailwayAgeresulted fromspecialconventions,manydid.Aslateasthefirstdecadeofthetwentieth century–the twilight era of railroad construction in America–promoters and enthusiasts, at times in large numbers, repeatedly gathered to discuss and organize schemes for steam railroads or for rural trolleys and electric interurbans. Yet as the nineteenth century progressed, the impact made by these railroad conventions diminished. Declared a contemporary : “Railroads were not likely to be prodigiously advanced by conventions.” But prior to the Civil War these assemblages were common andoccasionallyattractedhundredsofdelegatesandinterestedobservers. Inevitably they were prolific in oratory and resolutions. “There have been railroad conventions without end,” editorialized the New York Herald in 1859, hardly an exaggerated statement.1 Conventions made sense. They offered forums to discuss the pros and cons of a specific railroad proposal. These gatherings, moreover, reflected the democratic spirit of the maturing republic. Participants were commonly elected by communities, counties, legislatures, or private organizations . They congregated in public places–meeting halls, churches, or other buildings–and in appropriate locations, usually the town or city on the projected route. These railroad conventions paralleled such contemporaryassembliesasthenation ’sfirstpresidentialnominatingconvention, organized by the Anti-Masonic Party in 1832, or the landmark woman’s rights convention that took place sixteen years later. Whether railroad or otherwise,conventionsuniversallyattractedtheattentionofthepressand the general population. Once decisions had been reached, it was hoped that the enthusiasm generated could be translated into tangible results; organizers considered the “hoopla” factor important. Knoxville,1836 3 K n o x v i l l e , 183 6 45 The phenomenon of the railroad convention can be traced to the dawn of the Railway Age. In August 1828 perhaps the first gathering of iron-horseenthusiaststotakeplaceintheSouthoccurredattheChatham County courthouse settlement of Pittsboro, North Carolina. About two hundred delegates from the village and surrounding areas endorsed a proposal made by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), the progressive first president of the University of North Carolina. In a series of articles, which appeared in the Raleigh Register, Caldwell called for a trans-state railroad, extending from the port of Beaufort through Raleigh and Lexington to the Tennessee border. Much talk but no concrete action followed the Pittsboro meeting.2 On August 27, 1831, an early railroad convention occurred in the western Virginia courthouse town of Abington. Delegates from Virginia and Tennessee–“all were outnumbered by those from eastern Tennessee ”–explored building a 322-mile double-track railroad between Lynchburg , Virginia, a community soon to be served by the James River and Kanawha Canal, and Knoxville, Tennessee, a potentially strategic river port. A convention-appointed committee optimistically reported that “it is not only practical to construct such a road between the two points, but that the stockholders will derive a handsome profit on the sum expended on the work.” The committee did not worry particularly about funding, believing that it could be raised from the “redundant capital in the northern cities, belonging to our own people, and from that recently introduced by European capitalists.” But the estimated cost of $4.5 million [$95.4millionin2012dollars]andthestateofVirginia’scommitment to an array of turnpikes, canals, and river navigation improvements killed the scheme. Yet a railroad advocate at Abington thought that efforts to improvetheseothertransportationarteries,whilenobleandneeded,were misguided, arguing that a railroad would increase property values and therefore generate taxes that could be invested in other betterments. It took nearly a generation before locomotive whistles pierced the relative silence in southwestern Virginia; trains of the Virginia & Tennessee Rail Road began to roll between Lynchburg and Abington in 1856.3 Only a month after delegates converged on Abington, Virginia, seventy -six representatives, consisting of “an unusually large number of the prominent leaders in business and public life” from thirty-three counties of Georgia, gathered in centrally located Eatonton to consider internal improvements:turnpikes,canals,andrailroads.Butthesemenfocusedon the latter, being inspired by the developing South-Carolina Canal & RailRoad and sensing that the iron horse would come to dominate intercity transport. On September 27, the second and final day of the convention, delegates endorsed surveying for a grand network of rail routes. These 8.223.172.252] Project MUSE (2024-04-23 14:39 GMT) T h e L o u i s v i l l e , C i n c i n n at i & C h a r l e s t o n R a i l R o a d 46 included lines between Savannah, Augusta, Eatonton, and the Chattahoochee River; Savannah, Macon, and Columbus with a connection to the capital at Milledgeville; Savannah to the head of navigation on the Flint River; and Augusta, through Athens...

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