The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Co. - 1840 dated Obsolete Banknote

Washington left. Bust left and right.

The Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal Company was chartered in 1828 to build a waterway connecting the Chesapeake Bay with the Ohio River Valley. President John Quincy Adams presided over the groundbreaking for the 184.5-mile canal near Georgetown, Washington, D.C., on July 4, 1828. The ambitious project aimed to compete with the successful Erie Canal by transporting coal, lumber, and agricultural products from the western frontier to eastern markets. The undertaking proved challenging and expensive, with construction complicated by floods, engineering difficulties, and labor conflicts. Ultimately, the canal's final 50-mile section to Cumberland, Maryland, was not completed until 1850.

Even before the canal was finished, the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad had already reached Cumberland eight years earlier, signaling the beginning of the end for the canal as a major transport route. While the C&O Canal saw its peak traffic year in 1875, it struggled to compete with the faster and more efficient railroads. Repeated financial difficulties and devastating floods took their toll on the company, and in 1889, a massive flood forced the C&O Canal into receivership. The final blow came in 1924 when another major flood caused irreparable damage, forcing the canal to cease all operations. The abandoned canal was sold to the U.S. government in 1938 and was later preserved as the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.