Posts Tagged ‘New Orleans & Carrollton Railroad’
Posted on August 26, 2011 - by Annie Johnson
Going to the Races? Good Luck Finding a Seat on the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad
“The day will come when the Eclipse Course will be the first in the United States.” – New Orleans Picayune, 18 March 1837
New Orleans race fans in 1837 benefitted from the recently established New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad, which transported thousands to the Eclipse Course five miles above the city. Originally launched in the fall of 1835, the train – the first to implement “canned steam” that was pumped in at the terminal – lumbered along the route up St. Charles Avenue to the village of Carrollton at four miles per hour.
Posted on August 26, 2011 - by Annie Johnson
Captain Oliver’s Triumph: Opening Day at the Eclipse Course, March 17, 1837 [Part I. - 1837 Races]
“Many persons determined to see the race, were compelled to walk, as they did, under a burning sun, four miles and a half.” — Spirit of the Times, 8 April 1837
At the same time that he was Postmaster of Big Lick in 1831, twenty-one-year-old Yelverton N. Oliver was co-proprietor of the race track at Liberty, Virginia. By 1833, he was serving as treasurer of the newly formed Jockey Club and proprietor of the course at Lynchberg. And the next year Oliver was in Washington, reviving the city’s track.
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Antebellum Turf Times is a weekly publication dedicated to America's first national pastime—specifically the history of thoroughbred racing in America prior to the Civil War.
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