New Castle has a long history as a national transportation link. In the 1820s, a turnpike connected ships on the Delaware River with ships on the Chesapeake Bay, but the road was in poor condition. Progressive town leaders embraced new technology by forming the New Castle and Frenchtown Turnpike and Rail Road Company and, in 1830, began laying track between New Castle and Frenchtown, Maryland, 16½ miles away. They ordered a locomotive from railroad pioneer Robert Stephenson in England and, on September 10, 1832, started full steam operations, one of the first such operations in the nation. The venture functioned well, but eventually other railroads bypassed New Castle, and remnants of the old railroad still survive around town as re-used granite blocks that once supported the rails.

Photo: Adam Margolis

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.