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Galveston, Houston and Henderson Rail Road Co. (Uncanceled) - $200 Land & Railway Bond

Inv# RB7021   Bond
State(s): Texas
Years: June 1, 1855

$200 10% Interest Uncanceled Land Bond

The Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad Company was chartered on February 7, 1853, to build from Galveston through Houston to Henderson. The early incorporators included W. C. Lacy, T. P. Anderson, R. A. Harris, and William M. Tuck. The company was an important carrier as it was, for a number of years, Galveston's only rail connection with the Texas railroad system centering at Houston. Although supported in Galveston and Houston, much of the early financing was provided by investors in Holland and France as indicated by this certificate. Construction of the "Old Reliable Short Line," as the road was later called, began at Virginia Point on the mainland opposite Galveston Island in 1854. However, the first rail was not laid until 1857 and in 1859 the company finally reached Houston, where it terminated at the corner of Main and McKinney.

Only two curves, one on either side of Harrisburg, were required between Virginia Point and Houston. A trestle across Galveston Bay, built from the proceeds of a Galveston County bond issue, was finished in 1860, thus completing the rail line between the two cities. The original company was sold out in 1860, and a new Galveston, Houston and Henderson was organized under the original charter. During the Civil War the railroad remained active, handling the traffic to and from the blockade runners reaching Galveston. The tracks and the Galveston Bay bridge were used by Gen. John B. Magruder in his recapture of Galveston on January 1, 1863. In 1867 the bondholders of the original company forced the railroad into receivership. Over the ensuing four years an acrimonious court battle was fought between the stockholders and bondholders before the Galveston, Houston and Henderson was ordered sold under foreclosure on December 15, 1871.

A third company was organized under the original charter which acquired and merged the Galveston and Houston Junction Railroad Company later that month. The railroad was again sold on August 1, 1882, to Jay Gould and Russell Sage. They organized a new company, also under the original charter, which was sold to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company (Katy). The Katy was also under Gould's control. Since the Katy railhead was 165 miles from Houston at the time, the Galveston, Houston and Henderson was leased to a third Gould road, the International-Great Northern Railroad Company, in 1883. Gould lost control of the Katy in 1888. In 1893 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company of Texas built into Houston, and the Katy demanded the return of its property. The International-Great Northern refused, claiming a valid lease of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson. Although the Katy was initially successful in state court and began operating into Galveston, a change of venue to federal court overturned the state court ruling.

The case remained in the courts for the next two years while the International-Great Northern had exclusive use of the property. Finally, on November 19, 1895, the two contesting railroads signed an agreement settling the dispute. The Katy sold a 50 percent interest in the Galveston, Houston and Henderson to the International-Great Northern, the lease was dissolved, and both railroads received trackage rights between Houston and Galveston. The Galveston, Houston and Henderson was the shortest of the three railroads that eventually connected Houston and Galveston and reported its mileage at an even fifty miles. In 1877 the line began operating the first daily newspaper train in Texas for the transportation of the Galveston News into Houston.

This service lasted until World War I In 1892 the company reported passenger earnings of $95,000 and freight earnings of $398,000. That year the railroad owned twelve locomotives and fourteen cars. The September 1900 hurricane destroyed the company's two-mile bridge across Galveston Bay, and it was not rebuilt. The railroad used the bridge owned by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company, the only bridge to survive the storm, until the Causeway was opened in 1912. Effective March 1, 1920, the two owning railroads began operating the Galveston, Houston and Henderson for alternating one year periods.

The Galveston, Houston and Henderson discontinued all train service and was reduced to the role of a terminal operation at Galveston. By end of 1960 ownership of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson was vested in the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company as successors to the original owners. On December 1, 1989, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas and the Galveston, Houston and Henderson were both merged into the Missouri Pacific. The "Old Reliable Short Line" operated under its original charter and name for over 136 years, longer than any other railroad in the state.

The Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad was the first railway to operate between Houston and Galveston. Sometimes known as the "Old Reliable Short Line," service commenced around 1859 and operated for 136 years under its original charter. Later the railroad was acquired by the Missouri Pacific Railroad and part of old right-of-way is operated as part of the Union Pacific Railroad.

The Galveston, Henderson and Houston Railroad was granted its charter on 7 February 1853. Named for its main destinations, Galveston, Houston, and Henderson, construction of the road began in 1857 and service between Virginia Point, Texas and Houston was available about two years later. This section of road over the coastal plain was both flat and straight. The railway was assisted by Galveston County funding, which financed the construction of a causeway of the broad channel between Virginia Point and Galveston Island. The railway started service between Galveston and Houston in 1860.

The railway remained mostly under control of the Confederate States of America (CSA) during the American Civil War.

More recently, most of original Galveston, Houston and Henderson right-of-way running between the Island and Bayou cities has been a property of the Union Pacific Railroad known as the Galveston Subdivision. This legacy rail track is 47 miles long and lies just east of I-45 while running parallel to it. The Galveston Subdivision has principal connections to the Houston regional freight network at its junction with the West Belt Subdivision and at its junction with the Union Pacific Railroad Galveston at Virginia Point. Even though it is mostly single-track with occasional sidings, the Union Pacific reported an average of fifteen to twenty-five trains per day in 2005.

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Condition: Excellent

A bond is a document of title for a loan. Bonds are issued, not only by businesses, but also by national, state or city governments, or other public bodies, or sometimes by individuals. Bonds are a loan to the company or other body. They are normally repayable within a stated period of time. Bonds earn interest at a fixed rate, which must usually be paid by the undertaking regardless of its financial results. A bondholder is a creditor of the undertaking.

Item ordered may not be exact piece shown. All original and authentic.
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