Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co. - Railway Stock Certificate - Monopoly Game Board Railroad

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Stock with Liberty. Liberty female figure-many with orange English, Dutch or German embossed revenue stamps on front. Very Pretty!!! Monopoly Game Board Railroad.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (reporting mark BO) was the first common carrier railroad in the United States and the nation's oldest, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, who had previously benefited from the National Road, sought to establish trade with settlers crossing the Appalachian Mountains. The B&O faced competition from several existing and planned transportation routes, such as the Albany-Schenectady Turnpike (built in 1797), the Erie Canal (opened in 1825), and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Initially, the B&O operated entirely within Maryland, with its original line running from the port of Baltimore to Sandy Hook, Maryland, which opened in 1834. At Sandy Hook, the railroad connected with Harper's Ferry—first by boat, and later via the Wager Bridge over the Potomac River into Virginia—and provided access to the navigable Shenandoah River. The B&O Railroad gained additional fame as one of the four railroads featured in the original version of the popular board game Monopoly. It is the only railroad in the game that did not directly serve Atlantic City, New Jersey, whose street names were used in the game's original edition.