RonKarrSummary

Railroad History in the Boston States Migrations

Ronald Dale Karr

http://www.branchlinepress.com

Editor's note: Ron Karr is an author, archivist, reference librarian and professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. He provides an overview of railroad development starting in the European Middle Ages where horse drawn carts on rails provided mining operations with transportation. The use of flanged wheels as well as wooden and then iron rails eventually combined with the steam engine experiments of the 18^th century to play a vital role in the Industrial Revolution of the 19^th century. The railroad route slides provide an overview of the great reference materials found in his Branchline Press Publications. These step by step guides to the New England railroad history are key resources for tracking migration routes as well as the development of the mill towns that provided the migration incentives for immigrants and internal New England migrations. All material by Ron Karr is copyright 1999 and may not be redistributed without express permission of the author.

The detailed syllabus contains 6 pages of notes. The following is a summary of topics covered by slide titles.

Down at the Depot

Railroad development caused the center of New England towns to shift - from the town hall and meeting house, to the railroad depot. …

Union Station, Worcester, MA

Machine in the Garden

Alsace, 1550

18^th Century England

First Steam Locomotive, South Wales, 1804

English Railroads, 1830

First New England Railroads, 1805-1830

[Chronolgical New England Railroad Development]

1835

1840

1845

1850

1855

1860

1870

1875

1890

Concluding Points

Immigration follows the railroads. Look in the towns up and down the railroad lines. There is likely an industrial boom when the railroad arrives. Jobs determined where people lived. Mills attracted people, but after 1850 the railroad came first - before the mills. Look at dates to determine railroads promoted by mills and towns. It is a way to reconstruct paths between censuses.

Peter Knights, the historian describes immigration and internal migration to Boston as a "staggering mobility". Today statistics suggest that families move every 7 years. Families of the past were just as mobile. They have moved every year to a new rental location within towns or along intermediate points on the railroad. Use these patterns to find local records. The railroad was the preferred mode of transportation after the 1840s, well into the twentieth century.

Q&A Topics: railroad employment records; rail job recruitment in Canada; connecting Canadian routes; gauge standardization; Boston to NY routes; train speeds; effects of auto and plane service on passenger and freight rail lines.