Milestones in the life of Bluffton, Ohio, railroads
1833
Joseph DeFord builds cabin on banks of the Riley
Michael Neuenschwander and Charles Dally arrive in the area
1838
DeFord creates plat of Shannon with Main Street following native American trail
1849
Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad connects Carey and Findlay
1853
Beaverdam laid out by Frederick Shull (Shulltown)
1853
Fremont and Indiana Rail Road incorporated to build 120 mile railroad from Fremont to Union City through Bluffton
1854
Ohio and Indiana Railroad (Pennsylvania, Conrail, now Chicago, Ft. Wayne & Eastern RR) comes to Ada and Lima
1855
Platting of Rawson – named after Dr. La Quinio Rawson
1856-57
All construction suspended – Panic of 1857
Jan. 22, 1859
Fremont and Indiana reaches Foster’s store in Rome (Fostoria)
Dec. 26, 1859
Railroad reaches Findlay
Stage coach met train at Findlay and ran to Lima through Bluffton
1861-65 American Civil War
Aug. 17, 1861
Incorporation of Shannon and renaming of town as Bluffton
Oct. 14, 1861 Fremont and Indiana Railroad went bankrupt
Jan. 21, 1862 Rawson, Cory, Carlin and Foster organized the Fremont, Lima and Union RR
1862 Grade completed and crossties laid through Bluffton
$6,107 paid for 24 ton locomotive; L.Q. Rawson ran out of money
Feb. 4, 1865 Lake Erie and Louisville Railroad absorbed Fremont, Lima and Union Railroad
April 4, 1871 Lake Erie and Louisville Railroad declared bankrupt
April 12, 1872 Brice, Foster and Rawson organize new company: Lake Erie & Louisville Ry.
Nov. 22, 1872 Mt. Cory plotted (named after Judge Cory of Findlay)
Dec. 5, 1872 First regular trains run through Bluffton between Findlay and Lima
April 25, 1874 Railroad declared bankrupt in wake of Panic of 1873
Feb. 17, 1877 Reorganized as Lake Erie and Louisville Railroad with Brice and Foster in control, Rawson out
Summer 1878 Lake Erie and Louisville changed to standard gauge: 4 feet, 8 ½ inches
Aug. 4, 1878
Seney Syndicate with Calvin Brice form Lake Erie and Western Railway
Feb. 3, 1881
New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (Nickel Plate Road) born – Cleveland to Chicago
May 22, 1882
Cleveland, Delphos and St. Louis Railroad, narrow gauge from
Delphos to Carey, crosses LE&W at Bluffton Other names:
1885 – Eastern and Western Air Line Railway
1886 – Cleveland and Western Railroad
1890 – Pittsburgh, Akron and Western (converted to standard gauge that year)
1895 – Northern Ohio Railway (Brice’s company)
1920 – Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroad
1885 Ben Faurot, railroad promoter: Marietta to Western Michigan; brings in first oil well at Lima
1885 LE&W instituted bankruptcy proceedings
Jan. 20, 1886 Targ well at Findlay vents 20 million cubic feet of natural gas. The oil-gas boom is on
Feb. 9, 1887 With lift from oil and gas boom, Brice and Thomas gain control, reorganized line as Lake Erie and Western Railroad. Next decade most prosperous for LE&W
1887 Findlay, Ft. Wayne, Western (tangent line) built from Findlay through Gilboa. Line ends in 1918
1890 Calvin Brice elected to U.S. Senate
Dec. 15, 1898 Brice dies and with him the dream of a big trunk line
1899 Vanderbilt buy LE&W and operate it as an integral part of the NY Central System
1905 World rail speed record set of over 126 miles per hour east of Ada on Pennsylvania RR
Jan. 10, 1906 Western Ohio Railway, interurban line opens an electric line through Bluffton (Piqua to Findlay)
July 5, 1916 T he Van Sweringen brothers acquire Nickel Plate from NY Central
April 26, 1922 Van Sweringens at financial wall, rescued by J.P. Morgan and Co.
Jan. 16, 1932 Last interurban car passes through Bluffton
1932 Reconstruction Finance Corp. advanced $18 million to NKP in its worst year
Sept. 30, 1935 Mid-America Corp., George Ball of Muncie, Indiana, principal investor,
buys $3 million of Van Sweringen securities
1933-1947 C&O, Pere Marquette and Nickel Plate under joint management
1950 First diesel locomotive appears on the Nickel Plate
July 20, 1951 Last mixed passenger-freight train on AC&Y from Akron through Bluffton to Delphos
1956 Last of the steam locomotives in regular duty to go through Bluffton
Oct. 17, 1959 Last passenger train on the Nickel Plate goes through Bluffton
Oct. 16, 1964 Norfolk and Western and Nickel Plate and Wabash merged
May 1969 NKP 759 pulling Golden Spike Limited passes through Bluffton
1979 AC&Y in pre-abandonment stage
1982 NKP passenger depot moved to Buckeye park and renovated
Dec. 16,1982 Final freight through Bluffton on AC&Y
2014 Bluffton pathway board creates pathway on abandoned AC&Y from County Line toI-75
2021 One local daily freight each way through Bluffton on former NKP
Reprinted from Dec. 28, 1972, Bluffton News commemorating 100 years of railroading in Bluffton
Originally created by Robert Kreider • updated by Fred Steiner in 2021