446 HISTORY OF COH ASSET. 



the greatest changes ever brought about in our town has 

 followed the introduction of the railroad. 



About fifty-three years ago, in 1845., some of our more 

 energetic townsmen began to urge the feasibility of a rail 

 connection with the metropolis. The Boston and Provi- 

 dence line had been running for ten years, since June, 

 1835, and now in November, 1845, "^ still nearer line was 

 opened between Boston and Plymouth running through 

 Abington, some miles to the west of our town. 



The nearest point on the line was Braintree, twelve 

 miles away. The villages of Hingham and the northern 

 part of Weymouth needed a railroad as much as we did ; 

 so that business men all along the south shore advocated 

 the construction of a branch line that might connect with 

 the Old Colony Railroad at Braintree. A stock company 

 was soon formed, and hundreds of public-spirited persons 

 along the proposed line subscribed for shares at fifty dol- 

 lars each. 



Thus the '* South Shore Railroad " was incorporated 

 March 26, 1846. Their capital stock was limited to 

 ^600,000, and their proposal was to build a road from 

 Duxbury through Marshfield, Scituate, and Cohasset and 

 so on to Braintree, where they would be permitted to use 

 the tracks of the Old Colony the rest of the way to 

 Boston. 



There was no little wire-pulling done by the several 

 communities concerned, to get the road located for their 

 own best and sometimes exclusive convenience. Several 

 miles of travel might be saved for the town of Hingham 

 and points below if the way were laid through Old Spain 

 and Quincy Point. Hingham business men worked to 

 secure this route ; but they tried, furthermore, to make 

 their own town the terminus, shutting off Cohasset from 

 the enterprise. 



If the Hingham projectors had been willing to make 

 Cohasset the terminus, the road would probably have been 



