Henderson County a little Railroad history....
Latley I have been reading local History of surrounding Counties in Illinois and
some had a little bit of history on area railroad lines so I am making some blogs on
each county and what I see so starting off is Henderson County. Henderson County
is right across the Mississippi River from Burlington, Iowa in Western Illinois. The
source of the information comes from a book written by Robert P. Sutton called...
" Rivers, Railways, and Roads - A history of Henderson County, Illinois".
Peoria & Oquawka Railway ( P&O, later absurbed by the CB&Q):
The first county railroad was the Peoria & Oquawka project, Promoters such as John
McKinney, Preston Martin, Robert M. Petterson, and nine others organized as
"commissioners" at a meeting on Dec 20, 1849, and agreed to sell stock in the enterprise
at $100 a share with a down payment of only five percent. They estmated the total cost of
construction would be anywhere from $6,000- $10,000 a mile. Authorized, legally, by the
state legislature as a private corporation the previous Febuary, the first railroad ties were
laid the next year. But the road never reached Oquawka as the voters of the county refused
to approve a proposed $50,000 investment in the enterprise. As a result of the setback, the
legislature changed the initial route and the corporate charter was amended to build the
railroad to Monmouth (which has subscribed $100,000) through Warren County. It would
cross directly westward through what became the towns of Biggsville and Gladstone to the
Mississippi at Burlington, Iowa. The Oquawka voters, unable or unwilling to see any value
in a railroad to their river town, ignored the changed route.
Construction of the P&O went ahead without a hitch. It was completed as planned to
Monmouth, 1855 and linked to another new railroad coming from Chicago - Chicago
&Quincy line. This company in turn finished the construction of the roadbed to Burlington
and absorbed the P&Q, and renamed the entire operation the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Railroad Company.
(Further eats P&O struggled at first to build from Peoria to Galesburg for a time. It was
completed. Galesburg and Knoxville had a little war going to which town would be honored
to have the railroad pass through their towns. It tuns out both of them benefited. )
......................................................................................................................................................
Belatedly the citizens of Oquawka voted $25,000 to construct a roadbed between Gladstone
and their town in the vain hope that the directors of the CB&Q would link up. The line was a
waste of time and money and was never built. Oquawka ended up with nothing. Gulfport, instead
was created as the final CB&Q Illinois stopping point. Gladstone with the CB&Q, recieved it's
economic lease on life. And Biggsville by 1858, had enough business to warrant a railroad
station of it's own.
A third line envisioned before the Civil War was the Warsaw & Rockford Company. It also
was chartered in 1849 by the legislature to serve as a complement north to south segment to
the east- west P&O route. The company was managed by incompetents, however, and the line
was never built.
.........................................................................................................................................................
After the Civil War the railroads saw their heyday. Just after Lee's surrender in the Summer of
1865, Illinois lawmakers created the "Rockford, Rock Island and St. Louis Railroad Company".
The project was ambitious. It proposed a ailroad to run north out of St. Louis along the
Mississippi River, through Oquawka, to Rock Island. From here it would swing along the
Rock River to Sterling and terminate at Rockford. The portion of the road in Henderson County
was built in 1868. It went from Keithsburg to Oquawka to Gladstone. But the following year
the directors relocated the roadbed southeast out of Rock Island through Viola in Mercer County
to a Monmouth terminal. From that point it joined the main line of the CB&Q to St. Louis.
Shortly thereafter the expanded CB&Q bought the company out, and, for a while monoplolized
railroad linkage in Western Illinois. The piece of the Rockford line built north out of Oquawka
was eventually extended to New Boston, where it too, was connected to the CB&Q. In the south
western tip of the county a spur of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw line in 1880 called the Toledo,
Peoria and Western Railroad ran northward into Lomax township to the town of Lomax where
it joined the CB&Q about halfway between the town and Carman which was then known as
Iowa Station.
..........................................................................................................................................................
On Aug 20, 1954 there was a derailment of the Santa Fe near Lomax. A passenger train running
at 85 mph jumped the track. Eleven cars were overturned and the wreck tore up track for more
than a quarter of a mile. Four people were killed and the injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
Picture is mine but unrelated since I have no pictures yet of this area. I will eventually.
some had a little bit of history on area railroad lines so I am making some blogs on
each county and what I see so starting off is Henderson County. Henderson County
is right across the Mississippi River from Burlington, Iowa in Western Illinois. The
source of the information comes from a book written by Robert P. Sutton called...
" Rivers, Railways, and Roads - A history of Henderson County, Illinois".
Peoria & Oquawka Railway ( P&O, later absurbed by the CB&Q):
The first county railroad was the Peoria & Oquawka project, Promoters such as John
McKinney, Preston Martin, Robert M. Petterson, and nine others organized as
"commissioners" at a meeting on Dec 20, 1849, and agreed to sell stock in the enterprise
at $100 a share with a down payment of only five percent. They estmated the total cost of
construction would be anywhere from $6,000- $10,000 a mile. Authorized, legally, by the
state legislature as a private corporation the previous Febuary, the first railroad ties were
laid the next year. But the road never reached Oquawka as the voters of the county refused
to approve a proposed $50,000 investment in the enterprise. As a result of the setback, the
legislature changed the initial route and the corporate charter was amended to build the
railroad to Monmouth (which has subscribed $100,000) through Warren County. It would
cross directly westward through what became the towns of Biggsville and Gladstone to the
Mississippi at Burlington, Iowa. The Oquawka voters, unable or unwilling to see any value
in a railroad to their river town, ignored the changed route.
Construction of the P&O went ahead without a hitch. It was completed as planned to
Monmouth, 1855 and linked to another new railroad coming from Chicago - Chicago
&Quincy line. This company in turn finished the construction of the roadbed to Burlington
and absorbed the P&Q, and renamed the entire operation the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Railroad Company.
(Further eats P&O struggled at first to build from Peoria to Galesburg for a time. It was
completed. Galesburg and Knoxville had a little war going to which town would be honored
to have the railroad pass through their towns. It tuns out both of them benefited. )
......................................................................................................................................................
Belatedly the citizens of Oquawka voted $25,000 to construct a roadbed between Gladstone
and their town in the vain hope that the directors of the CB&Q would link up. The line was a
waste of time and money and was never built. Oquawka ended up with nothing. Gulfport, instead
was created as the final CB&Q Illinois stopping point. Gladstone with the CB&Q, recieved it's
economic lease on life. And Biggsville by 1858, had enough business to warrant a railroad
station of it's own.
A third line envisioned before the Civil War was the Warsaw & Rockford Company. It also
was chartered in 1849 by the legislature to serve as a complement north to south segment to
the east- west P&O route. The company was managed by incompetents, however, and the line
was never built.
.........................................................................................................................................................
After the Civil War the railroads saw their heyday. Just after Lee's surrender in the Summer of
1865, Illinois lawmakers created the "Rockford, Rock Island and St. Louis Railroad Company".
The project was ambitious. It proposed a ailroad to run north out of St. Louis along the
Mississippi River, through Oquawka, to Rock Island. From here it would swing along the
Rock River to Sterling and terminate at Rockford. The portion of the road in Henderson County
was built in 1868. It went from Keithsburg to Oquawka to Gladstone. But the following year
the directors relocated the roadbed southeast out of Rock Island through Viola in Mercer County
to a Monmouth terminal. From that point it joined the main line of the CB&Q to St. Louis.
Shortly thereafter the expanded CB&Q bought the company out, and, for a while monoplolized
railroad linkage in Western Illinois. The piece of the Rockford line built north out of Oquawka
was eventually extended to New Boston, where it too, was connected to the CB&Q. In the south
western tip of the county a spur of the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw line in 1880 called the Toledo,
Peoria and Western Railroad ran northward into Lomax township to the town of Lomax where
it joined the CB&Q about halfway between the town and Carman which was then known as
Iowa Station.
..........................................................................................................................................................
On Aug 20, 1954 there was a derailment of the Santa Fe near Lomax. A passenger train running
at 85 mph jumped the track. Eleven cars were overturned and the wreck tore up track for more
than a quarter of a mile. Four people were killed and the injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
Picture is mine but unrelated since I have no pictures yet of this area. I will eventually.
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