Ridgely Railroad Station

Ridgely Railroad Station. . , 1867 - 1887 , The railroad was completed to Ridgely in 1867. At that time there were two houses in the place , the Vernon property and the Ridgely Hotel. One of the factors getting the railroad to come. Mr. Thomas Bell had to give an area of land listed as "Ridgely Station" to them "as right of way to lay tracks" and to "provide a site for the railroad station." For the first two decades, the site basically remained a place a place where "sand bars, sedge grass, bony mules… and malarial chills thicky abounded.", 1888 - 1918 , From 1888 to 1918, Ridgely attracted numerous entrepreneurs who, combined with the railroad, created a model American town. A Fruit Growers Association and Exchange was created as well as a Regional Board of Trade and Ridgely became the "Strawberry Capital of the Nation". Railroad traffic was robust and grew with the town., 1920's , The expansive use of automobiles and the trucking industry begins to adversely effect both railroad traffic and the industries in Ridgely., 1949 , Railroad representatives explained to the town that the abandonment of passenger service would enable them, to improve the quality of freight service being offered to the area… following an overall effort to abandon unprofitable passenger 'feeder' lines, the Red Star Bus Lines would substitute the train passenger service., [Timeline:] , 1867: RR comes to Ridgely, Delaware and Chesapeake Railroad , 1888: First factory arrives , 1892: New Brick Station Built , 1892 - 1918: Ridgely attracts numerous entrepreneurs growing to 13 factories, 6 warehouses and numerous other businesses. At its peak up to four passenger trains and four freight trains served Ridgely at this time., Pennsylvania RR - Delaware Railroad Company - Oxford Branch , 1935: Train service out to one run per day each way. , 1949: Passenger service ends - rerouted to busConrail Closes Down Line , 1976: Freight service ends., Station Agents in order: Thomas Alexander Smith . "Gus" Koeneman . Edgar Anderson . Jim Lewis . Walter Moore . Russell Adams . C.W. Guthrie . Frank Slaughter, [Sidebar:] , Railroads in Caroline County , The Maryland and Delaware Railroad (later Delaware and Chesapeake) built 1867, The Dorchester and Delaware Railroad (later Cambridge and Seaford) built 1868, The Baltimore and Eastern Shore Railroad (later Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic) built 1890, The Queen Anne's Railroad (later Maryland, Delaware and Virginia) built 1896., All rail lines through Caroline County connected with the Delaware Railroad which had been built to Seaford, Delaware, by 1856. This railroad is shown above in dark blue running north and south through the Delmarva Peninsula.