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| Joyce Coal Company, Hitchins c.1925 |
By 1874 the Eastern Kentucky Railway had been extended just over 11 miles to Willard. This came about as the result
of an agreement with the owners of two blast furnaces in Ironton, Ohio. The iron manufacturer had access to large quantities
of coal and iron ore deposits in the Willard area and beyond. There was an agreement stating that if the Eastern Kentucky
Railway would extend to this area, payment would be received in the form of shipments of iron ore and coal. This agreement
came to an end as a result of the poor quality of coal and iron ore required to produce profitable products for the blast
furnaces. The Eastern Kentucky Railway filed a grievance due to this breach of contract and won in court. Payment came in
the form of property that was rich in the lesser natural materials. A beginning a financial problems! Stops were also added at Vincent before Hitchins, Reedville before Willard, and
Bellstrace before Webbville.
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| Newspaper clipping of Mr. James Polk Flaugher |
The United States saw
the assassination of President James Garfield in 1881. It was that same year when the Eastern Kentucky Railway was looking
to make the company available to larger markets. In December of that year, the Elizabethtown, Lexington, and Big Sandy Railroad
completed a line between Ashland and Lexington. It crossed the Eastern Kentucky Railway at a point that became known as Hitchens.
In 1889, the Maysville and Big Sandy Railroad was opened between Ashland and Cincinnati, crossing the Eastern Kentucky Railway at Riverton.
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| Willard Water Tank, c.1885 |
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