The Last Spike

Riegelsville in a pretty small Borough, stuck way up at the top of Bucks County, which might explain why the Bucks County Historical Society doesn't have a ton of Riegelsville items in its collections. Still, I was happy to find this photo the other day, labeled "Lunch at Riegelsville, Pa., Following the "Last Spike" Ceremony."

It was undated (ugh), so this morning I dug around a little and figured it out. The "last spike" refers to the final railroad (or in this case, trolley) spike that's driven, usually connecting two lines that have been worked on simultaneously during construction, coming from opposite directions.

The "Doylestown and Easton Street Railway Co." was chartered on Feb 8, 1897. The company proposed an electric railway from Doylestown: north through Danboro and Plumsteadville to Pipersville, and eventually proposed to extend the line all the way to Easton, a distance of 32 miles from Doylestown. Construction began in June 1901.

On December 11, 1903 service began on the completed portion of the line from Easton to Riegelsville, and then in 1904, south to Kintnersville. On August 3, 1904, the last spike was driven, connecting two ends of track (somewhere between Ottsville -- coming north from Doylestown -- and Kintnersville - coming south from Easton). A celebration in Riegelsville followed, where an unknown photographer happened to capture this cheery moment.