It is sometimes said that great projects are often carried about in the heads of progressive thinkers for a long time before they are realized. Equally true is it that agitation is the keynote of ultimate triumph. In harmony with this principle we find that a meeting was held at New Wilmington, Mercer County, as early as September 2, 1835, at which Joseph Emery was chairman, and Joseph Cowden and A. C. Semple secretaries, to consider railroad matters. In fact, it was resolved “that this meeting believes it proper for the people of Northwestern Pennsylvania to make an effort to connect the harbor at Erie with the Beaver division of the Pennsylvania Canal at New Castle by a railroad.”

On the 1st of November, 1849, a spirited railroad meeting was held at Greenville to consider steps to secure the construction of the Pittsburgh & Erie road; which had been chartered in 1845. Dr. H. D. La Cossitt was chairman, and Dr. J. T. Ray and G. A. Bittenbanner were secretaries. A similar meeting was held at Clarksville on the 3d of November, at which Isaac Hazen was president, and James Trimble secretary. Both meetings advocated the enterprise, and regarded it as highly important in developing the permanent interests of the Shenango Valley.

This project was agitated from time to time, but many years elapsed before it was realized. On the 2d of January, 1851, Thomas J. Power, now a resident of Rochester, Beaver County, then chief engineer of the Pittsburgh & Erie Railroad, submitted a report in which he carefully estimated the expense of building such a connecting road a distance of 103k miles. His estimate for grading and bridging a double track was $644,700; for securing the super­structure at the rate of $10,000 per mile, $1,085,000, making a total of $1,729,700.

In 1856 a new charter was obtained under the name of the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad. In 1859 the track was completed through Crawford County to Jamestown, which remained the terminus from the north until 1864. Work was also progressing from the direction of New Castle. The first freight train arrived at Sharon from the south October 11, 1863, and the first passenger train the 4th of the following January. The line was finished through Mercer County during 1864, and the company advertised to run regular trains from Erie to New Castle after October 31, 1864. This road enters the county at Jamestown and passes down the Shenango Valley, tapping the towns of Greenville, Shenango, Transfer, Clarksville, Sharpsville, Sharon, Wheatland and West Middlesex in its route.

The Erie Railroad is another important line that passes through Mercer County. In the fall of 1852 a survey was made through this section of the State, and August 19, 1853, ground was broken at Meadville. Soon afterward the contract was let for the construction of that portion of the road lying be­tween the New York and Ohio boundaries, but the work was abandoned in December, 1854. The enterprise continued to be agitated for several years, and in 1857 the Meadville Railroad Company was chartered for the purpose of taking up the project, but financial difficulties balked its promoters. The name of this company was changed by act of Legislature passed March 10, 1859, to the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company of Pennsylvania, and active work was soon after resumed. The road was completed from the New York State line, the terminus of the A. & G. W. R. R. of New York, to Meadville in October, 1862, and by January, 1883, the track was finished thorough Mercer County to the Ohio line, where it connected with the A. & G W. R. R. of Ohio. In August, 1865, the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio divisions were consolidated as the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company. The main line runs southwest from Meadville to Greenville, thence passes down the val­ley through Shenango to below Transfer, where it turns sharply northwest­ward to Orangeville. In January, 1880, the road was sold, and became the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio, familiarly known as the “Nypano.” In March, 1883, the line was leased to the New York, Lake Erie & Western Rail­road Company, and in 1887 it came under the control of the Erie management. Originally it was a broad gauge, but was changed after the first sale to the general standard of the country.

An important branch of this road runs to Youngstown via Sharon, it being a coal road that was formly operated by Coleman, Westerman & Co. The first locomotive crossed north of State Street in Sharon on the 20th of May, 1884, and the first passenger train came along the same line from Cleveland on the 1st of April, 1869. Another branch extends from Sharon to West Middlesex, which is largely used for traffic purposes.

The Lake Shore system has two lines in the county, one extending from Jamestown through Hadley, Stoneboro and Sandy Lake to Oil City. It was chartered in 1862 as the Jamestown & Franklin Railroad. It was completed for freight purposes in 18 65 as far as Stoneboro, and for passenger traffic the following year. The line was at once leased to the Lake Shore (then called the Cleveland, Painsville & Ashtabula) road. Stoneboro continued to be a terminal point until June, 1867, when the road was extended to Franklin, and in August, 1870, to Oil City. In August, 1872, the road was built as far west as Ashtabula to connect with the main line of the L. S. & M. S. Prior to this last date the E. & P. road was used as a northern outlet from Jamestown.

This road has also a branch from Youngstown to Sharon, with the inten­tion of reaching further up the Shenango Valley. The first construction train crossed north of State Street in Sharon on the 29th of August, 1887. The first passenger train passed in the same direction December 13, 1887.

Another feeder of this line is the Jackson Coal Railroad, which has a terminus at Stoneboro, and extends in a southern direction to the coal fields in Jackson and Worth Townships, a distance of six miles. It was organized in 1883 by S. B. Griffith, A. F. Thompson, Enoch Filer, James Westerman, S. H. Baird and others. It is operated by the Lake Shore in securing coal from the fields mentioned. It is to be extended, it is hoped, from its present quiet terminus to Grove City.

The Sharpsville Railroad was built originally as a coal road to Oakland, a distance of five miles from Sharpsville, without any regular organization. On the 28th of January, 1866, an organization known as the “Sharpsville & Oakland Railroad Company” was effected. The persons represented were Gen. James Pierce, Kimberly & Forker, Ormsby, Fish & Co., Frank Allen & Co., Forker, Meek & Co., Phillips, McMasters & Co., and Ormsby, Koonce & Co. The capital stock was $148,000, but was afterward increased to $184,500. The leading man in the enterprise was Gen. Pierce, who became and continued its president until the time of his death. About 1875 it was reorganized with a capital stock of $350,000, and the right to extend into Butler County, if deemed advisable. It has been a feeder for both the E. & P. R. R., and the N. Y. P. & O., and is now operated in the interest of the B. & O. R. R.

Nearly forty years ago the construction of a railroad from Mercer to New Castle was mooted, and on the 15th of October, 1853, Charles L. Whippoo, of New Castle, submitted a report of a preliminary survey made by him and James A. Leech, of Mercer County. The distance was reported as being eighteen miles, which required an expenditure of $9,000 per mile, amounting to $162,000. The superstructure at $11,000 per mile would cost $198,000. Engineering and contingent expenses were estimated at $26,000. Total, $386,000. Like all other railroad projects, the first efforts were simply preparatory to some successful movement. Finally the New Castle & Franklin road was built in 1872. It was reorganized as the New Castle & Oil City Railroad in May, 1881, and merged with the Oil City & Chicago Railroad in April, 1882; and a second time merged with the Buffalo, New York & Philadelphia Railroad in February, 1883. In 1887 it was again reorganized and became a part of the Western, New York & Pennsylvania Railroad. This is the present operating company.

The heaviest mortgage ever recorded in Mercer County is one that was placed upon the W. N. Y. & P. R. R. in the year 1887. The instrument executed by the railroad company to the Mercantile Trust Company, of New York City, in the sum of $2,000,000, was recorded by Jonathan Dean as one of the closing acts of his office as recorder of the county, the document, covering thirty-five pages of the mortgage book.

The Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie Railroad had its inception in the charter of the Bear Creek Railroad Company, March 20, 1865. This name was changed by legislative act April 9, 1867, to the Shenango & Allegheny, which title it bore until February 11, 1888, when a reorganization occurred and the present name was adopted. The road was originally intended as a coal feeder to the Atlantic & Great Western, and was finished from Shenango to Pardoe in October, 1869. In July, 1872, it was completed to Harrisville, and in January, 1876, to Hilliard. Several branches were built in 1880, ‘82 and ‘83, tapping the coal fields in Mercer and Butler Counties, and in September, 1883, the line was finished to Butler. In March, 1882, the road was extended from Shenango to Greenville, which remained its northern terminus till the latter part of 1887, when operations commenced on the extension to Amass Crossing, where it intersects the Lake Shore. It was pushed rapidly, and was completed during the summer of 1888. This road, with its connections, has now a line extending from Amasa Crossing to Allegheny City, and the management has in contemplation its extension to the lake in the near future.

The general offices of the company are at Greenville, and its shops, built in 1882, are located at Shenango. Its officers are: M. S. Frost, president; A. H. Steele, vice-president; J. T. Blair, general manager; I. P. Stinson, general passenger agent and treasurer; P. E. McCray, secretary and auditor; E. Richardson, master mechanic; and M. L. Osterhout, master-of transportation. With the extension of the road to Amass a decided improvement was also effected in its surroundings at Greenville. A handsome depot was fitted up on Main Street, and a great deal of filling done along its route through the borough. The citizens of Greenville look upon this road as a home institution, and are proud of the enterprise exhibited by its management.

A number of unrealized railroad schemes might be recorded. One is selected. On the 15th of July, 1847, a meeting was held at the Mercer court­house at which F. B. Hubbard was chairman and D. B. Hays, secretary, to consider the feasibility of building a railroad from Mercer to Big Bend, then an important point in consequence of its superior shipping facilities by canal. A committee, consisting of B. F. Baskin, William F. Clark, James McKean and William Maxwell, was appointed to voice the sense of the meeting. In their report they declared that “in the opinion of this meeting it is every way desirable to have a railroad constructed from the borough of Mercer to connect with the Erie extension of the Pennsylvania Canal at some point near the bend of the Shenango.” The failure to embody the “sense of the meeting” in practical form prevented two points from becoming commercial centers for all time to come.

History of Mercer County, 1888, pages 175-178