Product Details

Beautifully engraved antique stock certificate from the St. Louis Merchants Bridge Terminal Railway Company dating back to the early 1900's. This document was printed by the New York Bank Note Company and measures approximately 10 3/4" (w) by 7 1/2" (h).

The certificate's vignette features a man stoking a boiler. 

Images

You will receive the exact certificate pictured.

Historical Context

The St. Louis Merchants' Bridge Terminal Railway ran from Union Station to Madison, Illinois, with spur tracks – a total of 14.62 miles. In 1925, the line was leased to the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.

As for the bridge itself…

In 1886 the St. Louis Merchants Exchange launched plans to build the Merchants Bridge to break the existing Gould (Edes Bridge) monopoly. The Merchants Bridge opened in 1890 but survived only three years before a lack of services and accessibility ran the bridge into bankruptcy.

Within four years of Wiggins Ferry Company's lower freight rates Gould struck the ferry service a hard blow when he finished the St. Louis terminal facilities and formed the Terminal Railroad Association in 1889. Railroads participating in the Association included the Wabash Railroad, the Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati, Missouri Pacific, the St. Louis, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, and the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad. The TRRA proved the winner in the bridge competition when it purchased the Merchants Bridge and its debt in 1893.