The railroad also creates a new city…

The railroad also creates a new city and port at the Atlantic terminus of the line.

The town that immediately springs up to accommodate the railroad offices, warehouses, docks, and shops and to lodge both railroad workers and passengers soon becomes, and will remain, the second largest in the country.

United States citizens name it Aspinwall, after one of the founders of the Panama Railroad Company, but the Panamanians christen it Colon, in honor of Columbus.

Both names are used for many years, but because the Panamanians insist that no such place as Aspinwall exists and refuse to deliver mail so addressed, the name Colon prevails.