A horse-drawn carriage that carried passengers and mail along regular routes between towns, common before trains and automobiles.
From 'stage' (a stopping point on a journey) + 'coach' (a vehicle). The term emerged in the 1600s to describe these coaches that stopped at regular stages to change horses and passengers.
Stagecoaches were the internet of the 1700s—they moved information, connected communities, and created a network of commercial routes that shaped which towns prospered and which were left behind by geography.
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