The Peoria & Rock Island Railroad.

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This originated as a Henry County railroad . enterprise, being fathered by Amos Gould and Orrin E. Page, of Cambridge . These gentlemen procured a charter in 1867 for the road, and by the middle of 1871 trains were running over it. The first train was run over the road July 8, 1871 . It enters the county at section 36, Galva Township , passes through Galva, Bishop Hill, Cambridge , Warner, Osco and Orion, leaving the county from Western Township .

For more than 40 years, passenger and freight trains rumbled through the small towns of Alta, Dunlap, Princeville, Stark, Wyoming and Toulon . By 1915, however, rail traffic through these communities began to decline, and ceased completely by the late 1950's.

Peoria 's Forest Park Foundation acquired the abandoned railway corridor in June, 1965, and deeded the property to the Department of Conservation four years later. Officially dedicated in 1989, the Rock Island Trail is the first railway conversion completed by the department.

Portrait and Biographical Album of Henry County

1948 Rock Island Railroad

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