In 1857 the Ohio and Mississippi Railway was constructed through Washington, Indiana. The O&M Railway forever changed the economy of the city and the county. Means of travel, or carrying freight, and communication almost instantly changed. The O&M track through Daviess County, like the Canal, helped bring in settlers along with Irish and German laborers. By accident, the laying of the railroad tracks helped to discover the presence of vast deposits of coal in this area. When the grade was being cut in the area of the overhead bridge at S.E.15th street in Washington, coal was discovered in large quantities.

In 1855 and 1856 a railroad grade of 55 miles was prepared for $75,000. This was located just east of Veale Elementary School. It is visible still today. This railroad would reach Chelsea and join the O&M tracks at section 30 T3N, R6W.

In 1885 the City of Washington, Indiana, donated sixty(60) acres of land and $75,000 in cash to the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad. In return for this, the railroad built their railroad shops in Washington to serve the repair and construction needs of the railroad. The shops were completed in 1889. They eventually employed over 600 men. The railroad facility included a roundhouse which contained 34 stalls, a machine shop, erecting shop, tin, copper, and pipe shops, boiler shop, planning mill, passenger car shop, paint shop, steel-car shop and freight car shop. The shops built locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars, dining cars and completed any repair work needed on railroad cars and plants. On November 1, 1893 the railroad was made a part of the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern which was an outgrowth of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad. On July 13, 1899, the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern was taken over financially by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. In 1901, the B&O rebuilt the entire railroad from Cincinnati to St. Louis. Sometime around the middle of the 1880's Indiana had licensed or authorized 100 railroads within its borders. Very few of these railroads would be built, but they were authorized or at least planned. At that time Daviess County had three different railroad companies with facilities within it's borders, the C&O, the New York Central and the Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. The location of Washington, Indiana put it midway between the major stations of Cincinnati and St. Louis on the B&O Railroad. Washington was visited by several prominent personages via the train..... plus the train brought famous stage shows, Barnum and Bailey Circus, Presidents of the US, troop trains from the Civil War, WWI and WWII eras..... etc. Visiting presidents included 1890 former President Benjamin Harrison, 1893 President Grover Cleveland, 1923 President and Mrs.. Harding, Teddy Roosevelt was in Washington during a campaign stop while running for President, 1925 President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, 1928 candidate and Mrs.. Herbert Hoover. Late 1940's President Truman's train made a routine stop at the B&O depot. The Eisenhower funeral train made a routine stop on it's westward destination.

** Reasearch of this information was done at the Plainville and Washington Libraries upon where I found the books Daviess County History written by Rex Myers of Washington Indiana to be very informative and helpful.