The Louisville and Frankfort Railroad (L&F) was a 19th-century

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. Following the 1840 failure of the

Lexington and Ohio Railroad The Lexington and Ohio Railroad was the first railroad in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. Its charter proposed the establishment of a link between Lexington in the center of the Bluegrass Region to the river port of Louisville at the Falls of th ...

, which had only ever managed to connect Louisville with nearby

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, area businessmen met for years before organizing a new railroad in March 1847. The

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

and Frankfort was chartered to connect the

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

port to the state capital, as well as Lexington with any points east. The stretch between the capital and Lexington itself was left for the

Lexington and Frankfort Lexington may refer to: Places England * Laxton, Nottinghamshire, formerly Lexington Canada * Lexington, a district in Waterloo, Ontario United States * Lexington, Kentucky, the largest city with this name * Lexington, Massachusetts, the oldes ...

, chartered the next year. After purchasing the L&O's rights-of-way west from Frankfort from the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

, the Louisville and Frankfort issued stock and raised $800,000 from the City of Louisville. Surveys directed by Col.

Stephen H. Long Stephen Harriman Long (December 30, 1784 – September 4, 1864) was an American army civil engineer, explorer, and inventor. As an inventor, he is noted for his developments in the design of steam locomotives. He was also one of the most pro ...

of the U.S. Topographical Engineers selected a new route, employing some but not all of the stretches previously graded by the Lexington and Ohio. The rails for the road were purchased in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and shipped upriver from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. Construction began in March 1849, heading east from Louisville. The one-story brick passenger station, train shed, freight shed, and roundhouse were all located at Brook and Jefferson Streets. Near Cherokee Gardens in

, the line ran adjacent to present-day Frankfort Avenue.''The Encyclopedia of Louisville''
p. 176
"Cherokee Gardens". University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 2001. Accessed 10 October 2013. On February 6, 1850, the company held a special round trip to

LaGrange Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi LagrangiaKentucky River The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 13, 2011 in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. Commonwealth of Kentuc ...

near Frankfort permitted the first service along the entire mainline in August. In 1852, the L&F was connected to the completed

mainline and initiated twice-daily service to Lexington. Connection there to the

Covington and Lexington Railroad Covington may refer to: People * Covington (surname) Places United Kingdom * Covington, Cambridgeshire * Covington, South Lanarkshire United States * Covington, Georgia * Covington, Indiana * Covington, Kentucky, the largest American city na ...

then permitted travel to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

's Kentucky suburbs. The L&F and Lexington and Frankfort merged their management and operations on January 1, 1857, and then fully merged as the

Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington Railroad The Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington Railroad was a 19th-century railway company in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It operated from 1869, when it was created from the merger of the Louisville and Frankfort and Lexington and Frankfort railroads, ...

in 1867.''The Encyclopedia of Louisville''
p. 549
"Louisville & Frankfort Railroad". University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 2001. Accessed 10 October 2013. The LC&L later made up part of the L&N. Its rights of way now make up part of the

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

network.

Directors

The L&F's first president was Thomas Smith of New Castle (d. 1850). He was succeeded by James Guthrie of Louisville. The L&F's first board of directors included Smith, John J. Jacob, William F. Field, John Hulme, Virgil McKnight, and Jacob Swigert.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Louisville Frankfort Railroad Defunct Kentucky railroads Predecessors of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Railway companies established in 1847 Railway companies disestablished in 1869 Transportation in Louisville, Kentucky 1847 establishments in Kentucky American companies established in 1847