Pennsylvania Company
The Pennsylvania Company was a major holding company that managed railroad lines for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). It included the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, giving PRR its main route to Chicago. Together with the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad and the Vandalia Railroad, these lines were marketed as Pennsylvania Lines West of Pittsburgh. All four lines were merged into the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1921.
The company was incorporated on April 7, 1870, in Pennsylvania and began operating on April 1, 1871. Its initial president was William Thaw, who was replaced by Tom Scott on January 20, 1871. The Pennsylvania Company also operated the Erie Canal of Pennsylvania from September 16, 1870, to February 4, 1871. The lines used standard gauge track (4 ft 8 1/2 in).
In 1918, after the United States Railroad Administration took over U.S. railroads, all Pennsylvania Company leases were transferred to the PRR. When the lines were returned on March 1, 1920, they were divided into four regions—the Eastern, Central, Northwestern, and Southwestern Regions. The Pennsylvania Company remained as a holding company and was reincorporated in Delaware on December 12, 1958, with reorganizational changes on December 16. It then shifted focus to real estate and other ventures, continuing through the 1968 PRR merger that created Penn Central Transportation.
In 1973 or 1974, several subsidiaries were created, including the Pennrec Company for theme park investments (such as Six Flags Great Adventure and Stars Hall of Fame), the Penn Orlando Company, and Penn Arlington, Inc., which bought Six Flags Over Texas from the Great Southwest Corporation.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 04:11 (CET).