08/28/2026
THROWBACK THURSDAY: ADVENTURES IN THE ARCHIVES!
This week’s adventure begins with one wonderfully intriguing photograph from the Museum of Old Newbury’s Snow Collection: a very long train stretching across the bridge over the Merrimack River.
Handwritten on the back are the words: “Worcester Salt Special on Newburyport Bridge.”
That note sent the research down the tracks (see what we did there?)
The Worcester Salt Special departed from the Worcester Salt Company in Silver Springs, New York, on January 6, 1897, to celebrate the election of William McKinley as the 25th president of the United States. McKinley, a strong supporter of American industry, reportedly launched the “largest single shipment of a manufactured commodity ever made” remotely, by pressing an electric button from his home in Ohio.
The train was made up of 162 cars and stretched nearly a mile and a half. It carried millions of pounds of table salt, a massive consignment bound for Boston and communities throughout New England. In the photograph, the lettering on the train cars helps trace the route by rail, including the Erie Railroad, Jersey City, and connections onward toward Massachusetts.
And look closely: there is a man standing on top of one of the railcars. He was likely the brakeman, working in the era when brakes still had to be set by hand from the tops of the cars. A spectacular sight, and, as Robin Ziegler notes in the article, an OSHA nightmare today.
From one image and a handwritten note, we get a story that connects Newburyport to salt, railroads, presidents and industry.
Read the full story on our website. https://www.newburyhistory.org/further-reading/2026/8/26/adventures-in-the-archives-the-worcester-salt-special
