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The Great Railroad Boom
"...every convenience that could be thought of has been secured."
-- reported about the car built for Henry M Flagler, in Every Evening, Wilmington, January 4, 1887
Wilmington manufacturers found that the craftsmen who could fit out the interior of a luxury yacht or a steamer could do equally well with railcars.
When Florida real estate developer and railroad baron Henry M Flagler wished to have his own private railroad car built in 1886, he contracted with the Delaware Car Works of Jackson & Sharp. The car shown above, which he named The Rambler, contained a parlor, bedroom, dining room and kitchen. The restored car is displayed at Flagler's Palm Beach mansion, now the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum.
Entire new industries grew out of the demand for railroad equipment. Around 1830, Jonathan Bonney and Charles Bush began making machinery castings and railroad car wheels at Second and Lombard Streets. George Lobdell soon joined them and became the head of the firm called the Lobdell Car Wheel Company. In 1844, they moved to the banks of the Christina. By 1912, over 300 people worked at the plant turning out wheels for railroad cars and streetcars. The company thrived through the First World War but went into decline about 1926 and never recovered. |