Railroads, A Force for Development

The rapid expansion of railroads in Tennessee in the 1850s opened the way for development of rural areas and accelerated economic development throughout the state. Railroad lines moved raw materials such as lumber, ore, and coals to factories and allowed farmers to send produce, grain, and livestock into urban areas. As the lines improved, they became faster and cheaper than competing transportation methods, and construction crews altered parts of the landscape to overcome topography and other geographic challenges. Railroads could operate over shorter distances than shipping companies and other overland routes, and they made transportation easier year round when colder months froze rivers and turned roads to mud. The construction of rail lines linked rural communities and urban centers, and in Tennessee their expansion, first funded by state investment, soon fed the creation of communities along the lines to support railroad crews and machinery, including the towns of Big Sandy and Eva.

Eva, Tennessee · United States