Early Railroad History

Railroad history in Illinois began in Meredosia in 1838. The Northern Cross was the first railroad west of the Allegheny Mountains and North of the Ohio River to use a steam locomotive. Illinois’ Internal Improvement Act of 1837 prescribed various sections of the railroad be built from Quincy to Clayton and Columbus, from Mt. Sterling east, from Meredosia to Jacksonville, and so on across the state to Indiana. Vast amounts of money were spent on the sections but according to Quincy and Adams County History and Representative Men “only sixty miles of inferior road from Meredosia to Springfield” were completed and abandoned a few years later when the railroad was sold at public auction.

The Northern Cross Railroad was just one of eight railroads proposed in the 1837 Act. The land was surveyed, a contract was let out to bid, and construction began in Meredosia in May 1838. By November eight miles of tracks were laid and dignitaries took a ceremonial trip on the train. 

Problems continued with the railroad because of the precarious finances of the young state. The 1837 Act incurred too much debt, and the Panic of 1837 led to a depression. Work w

as suspended briefly on the Northern Cross in 1840. Bonds to build canals were diverted to railroads and track construction resumed.

The state-owned railroad did not arrive in Springfield until February, 1842. It took almost four years to build sixty miles. The train ran eastward three days per week and westward three days per week. Stagecoaches were frequently a faster mode of transportation. Passengers had a bumpy ride as the locomotive was too heavy for the light strap rails. That type of rail could curl resulting in a “snake head” coming up through the floor of the car. That posed a distinct danger to the passengers and caused frequent stops and starts. There were also water and wood stops about every ten miles, with passengers sometimes helping to load wood for the engine. Another problem for the early railroad was the theft of rails by “villains.” Iron was expensive and could be used for a variety of purposes. Guards were hired.

The state, tired of its role as a railroad pioneer, sold the Northern Cross in 1847 to Nicholas Ridgely of Springfield. He named the tracks the Sangamon and Morgan Railroad. Ridgley rebuilt the railroad and changed the Illinois River terminal from Meredosia to Naples. The railroad reopened in 1849.

The story of the Northern Cross began with politics and sectionalism. The senator from Vermillion County would not vote for the 1837 Improvement Act unless the Northern Cross was the first railroad built in Illinois, with the expectation that the railroad would eventually reach that county on the very east side of the state. The railroad did not reach the eastern border of Illinois until 1856.

Although listed in the 1837 Improvement Act, Quincy’s part of the Northern Cross Railroad did not begin until much later. The railroad was now private and in 1849, citizens in Adams and Brown counties were part of a new corporation called the Northern Cross Railroad Company. They planned a railroad from Quincy east to Meredosia. Throughout the next few years capital was raised and grading work began eastward to Clayton. Work stopped in Brown County due to lack of funds, and Ridgely’s railroad the Sangamon & Morgan did not want to connect to the newly configured Northern Cross. 

Nehemiah Bushnell as the corporation president and the other Quincy directors pivoted and decided to connect northward. The Illinois legislature passed an act in 1851 allowing a contract with the Central Military Tract Railroad Company in Galesburg, already building a line northward, to construct a railroad from Quincy to Galesburg. From there they would connect with the Aurora Branch Railroad, then owned by the Michigan Central Railroad. This branch railroad had tracks from Chicago to Mendota and wished to reach the Mississippi River.

It was not until 1856 that the tracks from Quincy reached Avon and connected with the Galesburg railroad which had been building tacks southward. Quincy was now connected by rail to other cities. The Northern Cross name passed into history when the railroad consolidated with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in 1861.

The original and much-desired connection from Quincy to Springfield was finished by James W. Singleton. He was president of the Quincy and Toledo Railroad which eventually became the Wabash Railroad. His railroad completed the line from Quincy to the Illinois River at Meredosia in 1859.

In 1850, Illinois had 110 miles of railroad and by 1860, the state had 11 rail lines and 2,867 miles of track as eastern investors had begun financing rail construction. The primary beneficiary was the Illinois Central Railroad which had 705.5 miles of track and was the longest railroad in the world in 1856. Illinois was on its way to becoming a great railroad state.

Sources

Emery, Tom. “Railroads Had Monumental Effect on Illinois,” Jacksonville Journal Courier, August 16, 2015.

Nelson, Iris. “Paying Homage to Nehemiah Bushnell.” Quincy Herald Whig, August 3, 2014.

 Northern Cross Railroad. sangamoncountyhistory.org

“The Quincy Argus—The Internal Improvement System—And Judge Ralston.” Quincy Whig, May 30, 

1840, 2.

“The Quincy and Toledo Railroad.” Daily Quincy Herald, March 28, 1859, 2.

“Railroad from Quincy—Letter from Gen. Cooley.” Quincy Weekly Herald, December 29, 1848, 2.

Stratton, H. J. “The Northern Cross Railroad.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 28, No 2. July 

1935, p. 5-52.

Wilcox, David F. Quincy and Adams County History and Representative Men. Vol I. Chicago: The Lewis 

Publishing Company, 1919.