Dr. Paul Koudounaris: A History of Railroad Dogs

Date and Time

• Tuesday, Jul 7, 2026  5:30pm - 7pm

Location

Details

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All aboard! Join us for the next History Forum lecture at the MAH!

By the 1860s, at the completion of the transcontinental rail lines, America’s railroads found themselves serving an unexpected group of passengers: stray dogs that would hop on and off the trains at will, as they traveled the country as canine vagabonds.

And over the next few decades, they would become something considerably more. As their stories were passed among rail crews and eventually newspaper writers who began documenting their adventures, several among them gained fame as America’s first true canine celebrities. And among those, the most renowned of all, dogs like Railroad Jack and Owney, became legitimate heroes to working class people who saw in them symbols of existential freedom that humans could only aspire to. Despite being feted during their heyday in the 1890s, these dogs were eventually forgotten, as the age of the railroads gave way to the age of the automobiles and eventually the age of aircraft. Yet their story is not merely part of canine or railroad history, it was once an essential piece of American history, and Dr. Paul Koudounaris will help us relive their fascinating saga in this illustrated lecture. All attendees will receive a free copy of his new book, Go West, Young Dog!