Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Co. signed by John W. Garrett and transferred to Henry A. DuPont - 1879 dated Autographed Stock Certificate

Stock sign by J. W. Garrett as president and transferred to Henry A. DuPont on back. Rare!

John Work Garrett (July 31, 1820 – September 26, 1884) was an American banker, philanthropist, and president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O). In 1855, he was named to the board of the B&O, and in 1858, became its president, a position he held until the year he died. His tenure was marked by his support for the Union cause during the Civil War, the expansion of the railroad to reach Chicago, Illinois, and his struggles with the Pennsylvania Railroad over access to New York City. Many places are named in his honor, including: * Garrett, Indiana * Garrett County, Maryland * Garrett Park, Maryland * Garrett, Pennsylvania After the war, Garrett acquired three gunboats that had been used in the blockade service and refitted them into packet ships, establishing the first regular line service from Baltimore, Maryland, to Liverpool, Pennsylvania. He was also associated with several telegraph companies. Following the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, Garrett in 1880 was one of the organizers of the B&O Employees' Relief Association. The B&O provided its initial endowment and assumed all administrative costs. Worker coverage included sickness, indefinite time for recovery from accidents, and a death benefit. In 1884 Garrett was instrumental in negotiating the loans which allowed the B&O to extend its main line to Philadelphia and through the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad to reach New York City. Garrett, a trustee of the Peabody Institute, asked its founder, George Peabody, to persuade Johns Hopkins to make the bequest that would make possible the Johns Hopkins University and Medical Institutions. Garrett became one of the most active trustees of the university.

Henry Algernon du Pont (1838-1926), Army Officer, U. S. Senator, Industrialist and partner in E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. He graduated West Point at the head of his class in 1861. In command of artillery, he served most commendably in many battles. He received the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1864 and received the Congressional Medal of Honor for distinguished services and gallantry at Cedar Creek. Later he became President of the Wilmington and Northern Railroad.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (reporting marks B&O, BO) was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from the city of Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of the National Road early in the century, wanted to continue to compete for trade with trans-Appalachian settlers with the newly constructed Erie Canal (which served New York City), another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania (which would have connected Philadelphia and Pittsburgh), the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (which connected to the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., although it never reached Ohio), and the James River Canal, which directed traffic toward Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia. At first, the B&O was located entirely in the state of Maryland, its original line extending from the port of Baltimore west to Sandy Hook (opened in 1834). There it connected with Harper's Ferry (by boat, then by the Wager Bridge) across the Potomac into Virginia, and also with the navigable Shenandoah River.

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