Defiance County, Ohio - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 7 of those read), 1883

DEFIANCE COUNTY is now supplied with two railroads, the Baltimore & Ohio & Chicago, and the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific, intersecting at Defiance, the latter completed in 1856, the former in 1874.

Early projects for roads through Defiance County were numerous. The first was for a road between Hicksville and Brunersburg. In 1836, a bill was introduced into the Ohio Senate by Gen. John E. Hunt, Senator, "To incorporate The Brunersburg & Hicksville Railroad Company. " William D. Haymaker, Gilman C. Mudgett, Rufus Kibber, Samuel Mapes and Ephraim Burwell, were appointed commissioners to receive stock subscriptions. The capital was $100,000, with liberty to increase as required, the road to run " from Brunersburg to Hicksville, and to the Indiana line, and to be completed in five years." This project, however, was too stupendous for the undeveloped resources of the country and had to be abandoned.

The Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad was intended by its projectors to form a direct and continuous route, under one official management, from Toledo to the Mississippi, through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, but a distinct corporation was organized in each of these States. The Toledo & Illinois Railroad Company filed a certificate of incorporation with the Secretary of the State of Ohio, April 25, 1853, for the purpose of building a railroad from Toledo to the western boundary line of the State in Harrison Township, Paiilding County. The Lake Brie,

Wabash & St. Louis Railroad Company built the road through Indiana, and these two companies consolidated June 25, 1856, taking the name of the Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad Company. The road was subsequently sold by its mortgagees and several times changed possession, It received its present name in November, 1879, by its consolidation with the St. Loais, -Kansas City & Northern Railroad. The road crosses the southeastern portion of Defiance County obliquely through Adams, Richland, Noble, and Defiance Townships.

The Baltimore, Ohio & Chicago road crosses the southern portion of Defiance County nearly east and west through Richland, Defiance, Delaware, Mark and Hicksville Townships. March 13, 1872, the Baltimore, Pittsburgh & Chicago Railroad Company filed its certificate of organization at Columbus to construct a railroad from a point on the boundary line between Ohio and Pennsylvania in Mahoning County to a point on the Indiana line either in Hicksville or Milford Townships, Defiance County. The construction was commenced at Chicago Junction, westward, with means furnished by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. June 10, 1874, the road was completed as far as Defiance, a distance of 878 miles, and by the following December, through trains were running to Chicago. Much credit is due to the citizens of Defiance and other parts of the county for their efforts to secure these roads, for it was largely owing to the labor and exertions put forth by them that the roads were obtained through the county.