When did the first American railroad open for business?

The birth of the railroads as a concept takes us back to 17th century England when rails were first laid down to reduce friction in moving heavily loaded wagons which would otherwise cut deep ruts. They called them "gravity roads" and they made their American appearance in 1764 for military purposes at the Niagara portage in Lewistown New York, built by Captain John Montressor, a British engineer and mapmaker. In 1809, Thomas Leiper, a wealthy Philadelphia tobacconist and friend of Thomas Jefferson, helped Reading Howell, also an engineer and mapmaker, construct the first practical wooden tracks for a tramroad. Little did they realize then that they were laying the groundwork for the great railroads. The first railroad cars were pulled by horses or mules but then John Stevens, often considered the father of American railroads, demonstrated the feasibility of steam locomotion on a circular experimental track in Hoboken N.J. in 1826. The great B & O Railroad opened 14 miles of tracks to horse drawn vehicles in 1830 and placed an American built locomotive into service the following year