History

Chatham-Phenix National Bank and Trust Company

bank · active 1927

New York bank that was trustee under the mortgage securing the bonds of the Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway, and that filed the bill for the decree of foreclosure in November 1927 which ended the B.C.&A.'s Chesapeake steamboat services. Its bill set out that the railway had not paid a coupon on its $1,250,000 issue of five per cent gold bonds since 1 March 1922, and that $375,000 of back interest was owing by 1 September 1927.

In the record (1)

  1. 1928 · 1928-03-29

    The railroad that made Ocean City is auctioned off a Baltimore wharf on 29 March 1928 — the Pennsylvania Railroad the only bidder, at $1,000,000.

    The Evening Star of 29 March, under "B. C. & A. WILL BE SOLD IN TWO PARCELS TODAY": "The Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway Co., with all ships, wharves, locomotives, rolling stock and rights of way, will be sold at public auction this afternoon at Pier 6, Light Street Wharf, under a decree signed by Judge William C. Coleman in United States District Court. The total indebtedness of the railroad, as mentioned in the bill of complaint, as of October, 1927, was given as $1,710,410.65." Assets listed: 11 locomotives, 30 passenger cars, 78 freight cars, 11 steamboats, 4 scows and piers in Baltimore and at Eastern Shore points. The next day's paper reported the result: "the Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic Railway, including its fleet of 11 boats, locomotives, cars, right of way between Eastern Shore towns and other properties, was sold yesterday to the Pennsylvania Railroad for $1,000,000. The sale was made at auction under a foreclosure ordered by Judge Coleman in Federal Court. The Pennsylvania Railroad was the only bidder. The railroad property was divided into two lots. For the first the bid was $650,000 and included the railway Claiborne to Ocean City and other strictly rail properties. The second parcel, including the ships, was bid in at $350,000, and included also piers owned or leased by the company."

    The campaign has been chasing this date since the 1922 pass and has three times sent agents after the Hagley PRR chronologies to get it. It is 29 March 1928, it is in the Washington Evening Star, and it took two paragraphs. Note what the two parcels say about the town: the whole 88-mile railway from Claiborne to Ocean City was worth $650,000, and the boats were worth $350,000. The road that had been Ocean City's reason for existing since 1876 sold for less than twice the price of its steamboats.

    Baltimore, Chesapeake & Atlantic RailwayPennsylvania Railroad Company

    Source · checked 2026-08-06