The Keith Car & Manufacturing Company is a former railroad car manufacturing company that was located in the village of Sagamore in Bourne, Massachusetts. Operational between 1846 and 1928, the plant employed up to 1,400 people at a time. [1]
The Keith Car & Manufacturing Company is a former railroad car manufacturing company that was located in the village of Sagamore in Bourne, Massachusetts. Operational between 1846 and 1928, the plant employed up to 1,400 people at a time. [1]
The company was founded in 1846 as Keith and Ryder and manufactured carriages, stage coaches, and prairie schooners. The company eventually switched to manufacturing rail cars, in a plant that stretched about a mile long. [2] In the early 1900s, the plant employed hundreds of Italian immigrants, many of whom lived in the area. [3] Following the creation of the Cape Cod Canal, the plant helped to manufacture coffins that would be used to inter recently relocated bodies that were in the path of the canal. [4] In 1912, the company was purchased by the Standard Steel Car Company.
During this time, it was a large repair facility for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, as well as possibly being the largest employer on Cape Cod, [5] employing up to 1,400 people at a time. The plant also was responsible for the design and patent of the 40-8 boxcar design used by many trains. [1]
During World War I, the plant shipped 40,000 freight cars to Marseille, France, which were built under contract. German prisoners of war then helped to assemble them, placed them onto rail lines, and helped to bring an end to the conflict. In 1928, the company closed after eighty two years in business, and the plant was stripped for materials, after years of being a minor maintenance facility, staffed by a skeleton crew. [5] The plant was demolished in the 1930s, following the second expansion of the Cape Cod Canal. [1]
Cape Cod is a hook-shaped peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The name Cape Cod, coined in 1602 by Bartholomew Gosnold, is the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.
The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts connecting Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south, and is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The approximately seven-mile-long (11 km) canal traverses the neck of land joining Cape Cod to the state's mainland. It mostly follows tidal rivers widened to 480 feet (150 m) and deepened to 32 feet (9.8 m) at mean low water, shaving 135 miles (217 km) off the journey around the Cape for its approximately 14,000 annual users.
Bourne is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,452 at the 2020 census.
Sandwich is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, and is the oldest town on Cape Cod. The town motto is Post tot Naufracia Portus, "after so many shipwrecks, a haven". The population was 20,259 at the 2020 census.
The Cape Cod Central Railroad is a heritage railroad located on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It operates on a rail line known as the Cape Main Line which is owned by Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The line was previously owned and operated by the Cape Cod Railroad, the Old Colony Railroad, and later the New Haven Railroad, each of which operated passenger trains on the line from 1854 to 1959. Although it is the namesake of the Cape Cod Central Railroad (1861–68), the two companies are unrelated.
The Cape Cod Railroad is a railroad in southeastern Massachusetts, running from Pilgrim Junction in Middleborough across the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge, where it splits towards Hyannis in one direction and Falmouth in the other. It was incorporated in 1846 as the Cape Cod Branch Railroad to provide a rail link from the Fall River Railroad line in Middleborough to Cape Cod.
The Bourne Bridge in Bourne, Massachusetts, carries Route 28 across the Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod with the rest of Massachusetts. It won the American Institute of Steel Construction's Class "A" Award of Merit as the "Most Beautiful Steel Bridge" in 1934. Most traffic approaching from the west follows Route 25 which ends at the interchange with US 6 and Route 28 just north of the bridge. The highway provides freeway connections from Interstate 495 and Interstate 195.
The Sagamore Bridge in Sagamore, Massachusetts carries Route 6 and the Claire Saltonstall Bikeway across the Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod with the mainland of Massachusetts. It is the more northeastern of two automobile canal crossings, the other being the Bourne Bridge. Most traffic approaching from the north follows Massachusetts Route 3 which ends at Route 6 just north of the bridge, and the bridge provides direct freeway connections from Boston and Interstate 93.
Sagamore Beach is a village in Bourne, Massachusetts, fronting Cape Cod Bay and the east end of the Cape Cod Canal. It occupies the northern half of the Sagamore census-designated place. Along with Buzzards Bay and Bournedale, it is one of the three communities in Barnstable County north of the Cape Cod Canal.
The Bourne Braves are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Bourne, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Braves play their home games at Doran Park on the campus of Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School in Bourne. The Braves are owned and operated by the non-profit Bourne Athletic Association.
Sagamore station was a railroad station located on Pleasant Street in Sagamore, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. It was located across the tracks from the Keith Car & Manufacturing Company.
The Hyannis Transportation Center (HTC) is an intermodal transportation center in Hyannis, Massachusetts, operated by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA). It is the terminus for several CCRTA bus lines and its CapeFLYER passenger train that operates on summer weekends between Boston South Station and Hyannis. It is also used by the Plymouth and Brockton Street Railway, Peter Pan Bus Lines, and Greyhound via CapeBus intercity bus services. The Cape Cod Central Railroad uses a separate station building across the tracks for its excursion services. A rail yard used by the Cape Cod Central is located north of the station, along with a former roundhouse.
Buzzards Bay station is a train station located on Main Street in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. The site also contains an interlocking tower. The Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge is adjacent.
The Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Cape Cod is a former bottler of Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper and Canada Dry soft drinks located in Sandwich, Massachusetts, United States. The company was bought out in 2000 by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England.
The Upper Cape Regional Transfer Station (UCRTS) is a municipal waste transfer facility located within Joint Base Cape Cod. The facility is within the town limits of Falmouth, but on state-owned land at the southern end of the military base, and is about a mile west of the Falmouth entrance gate. It is one of two truck-to-rail trash transfer facilities on Cape Cod, with the other being the Yarmouth-Barnstable Regional Transfer Station.
The CapeFlyer is a passenger rail service in Massachusetts between Boston and Cape Cod that began in 2013. It is operated by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The service runs on the weekends, beginning Friday evenings and including holidays, between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend.
Bourne station is a train station in Bourne, Massachusetts, served by the CapeFlyer.
Bournedale is a village in the town of Bourne in Barnstable County, Massachusetts fronting Sagamore Beach, Buzzards Bay and the middle of the Cape Cod Canal. Along with Buzzards Bay and Sagamore Beach, it is one of only three communities in Barnstable County that are north of the Cape Cod Canal.
The Bourne Highway Bridge was a bascule bridge in the town of Bourne, Massachusetts, that spanned the Cape Cod Canal. It was in use from 1911 until 1935.
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