(BUSINESS) THE ENTERPRISE RAILROAD COMPANY Receipt for cargo

Sale 2271 - Lot 183

Price Realized: $ 420

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

THE ONLY BLACK-OWNED RAILROAD IN U.S. HISTORY (BUSINESS.) THE ENTERPRISE RAILROAD COMPANY. Receipt for cargo on Enterprise Railroad Company stationary, dated August 31st, 1894. Partially-printed piece of stationary, accomplished by hand. 4to sheet, written on one side only. Charleston, SC, 1894

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Launched in Charleston, South Carolina by businessman and politician Richard Harvey Cain (1825-1887), and group of Charleston's black elite, the Enterprise Railroad Company is the only commercial railroad in American history founded and run entirely by African-Americans. Incorporated in 1870 with capital of $250,000, the railroad was built and in use by 1875, carrying both freight and passengers between Magnolia Avenue beyond the corporate limits of Charleston to East Battery, making connections with all of the principle wharves and rail depots. Cain was at this time a state legislator and served as president of the company. The present receipt is for hauling nearly a half ton of corn and oats.