Chartered in Indiana in 1848 by the General Assembly, the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad received local financial support from Ripley County voters in March 1849 for its construction. Surveys of the Eastern Division, running from Cincinnati to Vincennes, began in 1852, and the town of Osgood was named in honor of O and M division engineer A. L. Osgood. The railroad was completed from Cincinnati to East St. Louis in 1857, and at Osgood the company built a depot, freight house, engine house, turntable, stock pens, and sidings, making the town the center of transport and commerce for Ripley County. In 1899-1900, the company was taken over by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.