# Gettysburg Spring Railroad

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gettysburg_Spring_Railroad
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gettysburg_Spring_Railroad.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Spring_Railroad
> Source revision: 1297592410
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Use American English|date=June 2025}}
[[File:Springs Hotel Avenue and Horse Railroad at Willoughby Run.png|thumb|285px|The Horse Railroad (foreground) extended to the Springs Hotel (background) crossing [Willoughby Run](/source/Willoughby_Run) near the [Katalysine Springs](/source/Katalysine_Springs) (right).]]

The '''Gettysburg Spring Railroad'''<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 30, 1868 |title=Organized |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=i2smAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Nv8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6526%2C4908346 |format=Google News Archive |newspaper=The Star and Sentinel |accessdate=2012-03-19}}</ref> ('''Springs Horse Railway''')<ref>{{Cite report |last=Heiges |first=Dr. Donald R. |date= |title=["21 typed pages"<nowiki>]</nowiki> |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-BQyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9OYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7056,937655&dq=lithia+springs+gettysburg&hl=en |location=Adams County Historical Society|accessdate=2012-01-17}}</ref> was a [Gettysburg Battlefield](/source/Gettysburg_Battlefield) tourist conveyance in the [Battle of Gettysburg, First Day](/source/Battle_of_Gettysburg%2C_First_Day), area.  The [trolley](/source/trolley_(horse-drawn)) extended from the western terminus on the east side of [Herr Ridge](/source/Herr_Ridge) at the [Gettysburg Springs Hotel](/source/Gettysburg_Springs_Hotel) eastward to the [Gettysburg borough](/source/Gettysburg%2C_Pennsylvania) after crossing [Willoughby Run](/source/Willoughby_Run), [McPherson Ridge](/source/McPherson_Ridge), [Pitzer Run](/source/Pitzer_Run), [Seminary Ridge](/source/Seminary_Ridge), [Stevens Run](/source/Stevens_Run_(Rock_Creek)) (stone bridge),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=imsmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Nv8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=7461%2C4947538|title=The Star and Sentinel - Oct 23, 1868|accessdate=2012-10-31}}</ref> to the slopes of [Baltimore Hill](/source/Baltimore_Hill) where it turned northward at the borough square to end at the [Gettysburg Railroad Station](/source/Gettysburg_Railroad_Station). In addition to a stop at the [Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg](/source/Lutheran_Theological_Seminary_at_Gettysburg), by 1879 <ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=g1EmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BwAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=1509,5857048&dq=samuel-bushman+gettysburg&hl=en|title=Gettysburg Compiler - May 22, 1879|accessdate=2012-10-31}}</ref> the horse railroad had a stop near Pitzer Run at the "[Trotting Park](/source/%3AFile%3A1902_Camp_George_G_Meade.png)" which was replaced after 1904<ref>{{Cite map |publisher=Julius Bien & Co. Lith. |year=1904 |title=…Battle Field of Gettysburg |cartography=<!--  [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/gmd:@OR(@field(AUTHOR+@3(Gettysburg+National+Military+Park+Commission++))+@field(OTHER+@3(Gettysburg+National+Military+Park+Commission++))) Gettysburg Park Commission] (Nicholson, John P; [Cope, Emmor](/source/Emmor_Cope); Hammond, Schuyler A)--> |accessdate= |location=New York }}</ref> with a horse track east of Stevens Run at the county fairgrounds (now the [Gettysburg Recreation Park](/source/Gettysburg_Recreation_Park)).

==History==
By October 9, 1867, "the Gettysburg Katalysine Spring Company had purchased...land from Willoughby run to Gettysburg, lying between the [Hagerstown](/source/Nichols_Gap_Road) and Chambersburg roads ... to lay down a Horse Railway",<ref name=SS1868>{{Cite news |date=October 9, 1868 |title=title tbd |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iGsmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Nv8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6043%2C5026759 |format=[Google News Archive](/source/Google_News_Archive) |newspaper=The Star and Sentinel |accessdate=2012-10-18}}</ref>  and the '''Gettysburg Spring Railroad''' was organized by October 20, 1868.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 30, 1868 |title=Organized |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=i2smAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Nv8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6526%2C4908346 |format=Google News Archive |newspaper=The Star and Sentinel |accessdate=2012-10-18 |quote=President, Robert McCurdy.  Directors, E. G. Fahnestock, [D. Wills](/source/David_Wills_(Gettysburg)), G. McCreary, G. D. Smith, R. L. Hamon and J. M. Emerson.}}</ref>  Construction had commenced by October 16<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6dolAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rPIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5194%2C8289876|title=The Compiler - Oct 16, 1868|accessdate=2012-10-31}}</ref> at the west end,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iWsmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Nv8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=7410%2C4987383|title=The Star and Sentinel - Oct 16, 1868|accessdate=2012-10-31}}</ref> with the first car running on June 25, 1869.<ref name="google1331">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZqoyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hOgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1331,1103451&dq=marion+sloat+gettysburg+springs&hl=en|title=Gettysburg Times - Oct 22, 1984|accessdate=2012-10-31}}</ref> (the hotel opened on June 28).<ref name="google1331"/>

By December 24, 1904, the receivers of the '''Gettysburg Springs & Hotel Co''' transferred "''four certain parcels of land aggregating''" {{Convert|36.56|acre|ha|abbr=on}} east of the hotel to the [United States Department of War](/source/United_States_Department_of_War)<ref name=Deeds>{{Citation |title=Property Deed Books |location=[Gettysburg, Pennsylvania](/source/Gettysburg%2C_Pennsylvania) |publisher=[Adams County Courthouse](/source/Adams_County_Courthouse_(Pennsylvania)) }}<br>
'''Deed [tbd](/source/To_be_determined)''' {{Cite book |location=Deed Book #60 |pages=22–30 |last=Fowler |first=Henry O., et al (receivers) |date=December 24, 1904|title=Deed to '[War Department?<nowiki>]</nowiki>' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u34AAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA321 |accessdate=2011-11-01 }}</ref> which allowed the railbed/wagon road on McPherson Ridge's west slope to be [telfordized](/source/Macadam) as the [commemorative era](/source/Gettysburg_Battlefield) [Meredith Avenue](/source/Meredith_Avenue)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tmdannin/history.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030000831/http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tmdannin/history.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 30, 2016 |accessdate=October 18, 2012 |title=New Page 1 }}</ref> (the Pitzer Run section of the railroad no longer has Springs Av).

Stones of the railway's Willoughby Run bridge were still visible in the stream in 1991.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-BQyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9OYFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7056,937655&dq=charles-mcclean+gettysburg&hl=en|title=Gettysburg Times - Jul 9, 1991|accessdate=2012-10-31}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

Category:Defunct companies based in Pennsylvania
Category:Defunct Pennsylvania railroads
Category:Railway companies established in 1868
Category:Railway companies disestablished in 1880
Category:Railway lines opened in 1869
Category:1869 establishments in Pennsylvania

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gettysburg Spring Railroad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Spring_Railroad) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Spring_Railroad?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.