THE ROCK ISLAND & PEORIA RAILROAD

The Rock Island & Peoria Railroad, now a part of the Rock Island system, was completed in 1872, and connects Rock Island and Peoria . It occupies the original station at the foot of Twentieth street , Eock Island , which is a combined freight and passenger depot. The original charter of this road was secured in 1871 by Amos Gould and Orrin E. Page under the name of the Pacific & Rock Island Railroad.

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 Rock Island

Submitted by the Webmaster

 

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Illinois Ancestors

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