Boston Hartford & Erie

Company History: The BH&E was established in 1863 to lease the bankrupt Hartford Providence & Fishkill Railroad running from Providence, Rhode Island to the Hudson River in Fishkill, New York plus branches. Over the next ten years, BH&E went on a building, leasing and buying spree in southern New England, picking up the New York & Boston, Norfolk County Railroad, the Norwich & Worcester, the Duchess & Columbia, and the New Haven Middletown & Willimantic. In 1873, the BH&E fell into bankruptcy and was reorganized as the New York & New England Railroad (later part of the New York New Haven & Hartford.)

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.