Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Santa Fe Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Santa Fe Railroad, former U.S. railroad, chartered in 1863 as the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe RR; opened to traffic in 1864. Construction continued, and in 1880 it reached Santa Fe, N.Mex.; the fol...

Hopkins, Johns

(Encyclopedia)Hopkins, Johns, 1795–1873, American financier and philanthropist, founder of Johns Hopkins Univ., b. Anne Arundel co., Md. In 1819 he founded his own commission firm, later known as Hopkins Brothers...

Baltimore oriole

(Encyclopedia)Baltimore oriole: see oriole.

Baltimore, David

(Encyclopedia)Baltimore, David bôlˈtĭmôr [key], 1938–, American microbiologist, b. New York City, Ph.D. Rockefeller Univ., 1964. He conducted (1965–68) virology research at the Salk Institute before becomin...

Ohio Company

(Encyclopedia)Ohio Company, organization formed (1747) to extend settlements of Virginia westward. The members were mostly Virginia planters interested in land speculation and the fur trade. A royal charter (1749) ...

Ohio University

(Encyclopedia)Ohio University, main campus at Athens; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1804, opened 1809 as the first college in the Old Northwest. There are additional campuses at Chiillicothe, Lancaster,...

Ellicott City

(Encyclopedia)Ellicott City, city (2020 pop. 75,947), seat of Howard co., in Baltimore and Howard cos., central Md., on the Patapsco River; settled 1774 as Ellicott M...

Erie Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Erie Railroad, rail transportation line designed to connect the mouth of the Hudson River with the Great Lakes region. The New York and Erie RR Company was enfranchised and incorporated in 1832, and c...

transcontinental railroad

(Encyclopedia)transcontinental railroad, in U.S. history, rail connection with the Pacific coast. In 1845, Asa Whitney presented to Congress a plan for the federal government to subsidize the building of a railroad...

Underground Railroad

(Encyclopedia)Underground Railroad, in U.S. history, loosely organized system for helping fugitive slaves escape to Canada or to areas of safety in free states. It was run by local groups of Northern abolitionists,...