The Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railroad (CP&StL) was a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

that operated a main line between Pekin (near Peoria) and

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

(near

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

) via Springfield. Its property was sold at foreclosure to several new companies in the 1920s; the portion north of Springfield has since become the Illinois and Midland Railroad, while the remainder has been abandoned, except for a portion near St. Louis that is now owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway.

History

The earliest predecessor of the CP&StL was the Illinois River Railroad, chartered by the Illinois General Assembly in February 1853 to build a line from

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

north-northeasterly to La Salle through the valley of the Illinois River. The line was opened from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

to Pekin in 1859, and in May 1864 the property was sold at foreclosure to the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville Railroad, which had been incorporated in June 1863 for this purpose. The company bought a line from Pekin to Peoria from the Peoria and Hannibal Railroad in May 1868, and in 1869 the road was extended southwest to the Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway (Wabash) at Jacksonville. The segment beyond Pekin acquired in 1868 was sold in November 1880 to the Peoria and Pekin Union Railway, a

terminal railroad A switching and terminal railroad is a freight railroad company whose primary purpose is to perform local switching services or to own and operate a terminal facility. Switching is a type of operation done within the limits of a yard. It genera ...

serving those cities.Edited by Newton Bateman and Paul Selby
Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois
Volume I, 1916 (Munsell Publishing Company), pp. 98 (Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Railroad Company), 301 (Jacksonville & St. Louis Railway), 499 (St. Louis, Chicago & St. Paul Railroad) Interstate Commerce Commission, 43 Val. Rep. 501 (1933), Valuation Docket No. 1110: Jacksonville & Havana Railroad Company A second line was chartered in March 1869 as the Springfield and Northwestern Railroad, to build from Springfield north-northwesterly to Rock Island. It was completed in December 1874 from Springfield (also on the line of the Wabash) to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, where trains entered the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville Railroad to reach Peoria via

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may ...

. On opening, the road was leased to the Indianapolis, Bloomington and Western Railway (which had lines east from Havana and Pekin), but the lease was forfeited in 1875, and the Springfield and Northwestern ''Railroad'' was soon reorganized as the Springfield and Northwestern ''Railway'', incorporated in May 1878. Interstate Commerce Commission, 40 Val. Rep. 723 (1933), Valuation Docket No. 897: Wabash Railway Company and its Leased Lines Jacksonville South Eastern Line

Both lines, connecting Jacksonville and Springfield to Pekin, were sold to the Wabash in 1881, but, after the Wabash defaulted, the lines were sold in mid-1888 to a new Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railway, a subsidiary of the Jacksonville Southeastern Railway (reorganized in 1890 as the Jacksonville, Louisville and St. Louis Railway). The latter company, with a main line from Jacksonville southeast to

Centralia Centralia may refer to: Places Australia *Central Australia, sometimes called "Centralia" Canada * Centralia, Ontario ** RCAF Station Centralia, a former Royal Canadian Air Force training base ** Centralia (Essery Field) Aerodrome United State ...

via Litchfield, soon assembled a system - the " Jacksonville Southeastern Line" - by leasing the St. Louis and Chicago Railway (Springfield to Litchfield) in September 1890, and building, as a part of the Chicago, Peoria, and St. Louis, a line from Litchfield southwest to

(near

East St. Louis East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

). The connection to East St. Louis was completed in November 1890, and in December the company inaugurated, in cooperation with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, a through

Pullman car In the United States, Pullman was used to refer to railroad sleeping cars that were built and operated on most U.S. railroads by the Pullman Company (founded by George Pullman) from 1867 to December 31, 1968. Other uses Pullman also refers to ra ...

passenger service between

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

. The system was broken up in 1893, as the Jacksonville, Louisville and St. Louis and Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis were placed under separate receivers. The latter's lease of the St. Louis and Chicago expired in December 1895, and that company soon became part of the new St. Louis, Peoria and Northern Railway. This left the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis ''Railway'', reorganized in January 1896 as the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis ''Railroad of Illinois'', with its original lines from Pekin to Jacksonville and Springfield and an isolated branch between Litchfield and Madison. Unable to use the direct line from Springfield to Litchfield, the CP&StL acquired

over the St. Louis, Chicago and St. Paul Railroad ("Bluff Line") to Waverly and the Jacksonville Southeastern to Litchfield; the route was modified in July 1896 to use the latter line from Jacksonville to Litchfield. Several years later, the CP&StL would acquire the Bluff Line as its St. Louis connection, and sell off the Litchfield-Madison line. The Bluff Line began as the St. Louis, Jerseyville and Springfield Railroad, incorporated in November 1880 to build from Springfield to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

near Grafton. The line was completed in 1882 from

Bates Bates may refer to: Places * Bates, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Bates, Illinois. an unincorporated community in Sangamon County * Bates, Michigan, a community in Grand Traverse County * Bates, New York, a hamlet in the town of Ell ...

, on the Wabash west of Springfield, through Jerseyville to

Dow Dow or DOW may refer to: Business * Dow Jones Industrial Average, or simply the Dow, a stock market index * Dow Inc., an American commodity chemical company ** Dow Chemical Company, a subsidiary, an American multinational chemical corporation ...

, where it descended the Mississippi River's bluffs to Elsah and followed the shoreline to Grafton. After a lease to the St. Louis and Central Illinois Railroad, begun in December 1886, the line was reorganized in November 1888 as the St. Louis, Alton and Springfield Railroad, which had been incorporated in June 1887. In 1889, that company built a branch from Dow to the river at Lockhaven, and then along the Mississippi to

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

, as well as a connection from Elsah to Lockhaven. (The Dow-Elsah segment would later be abandoned.) Another reorganization, in September 1892, created the St. Louis, Chicago and St. Paul Railroad which built a direct entrance to Springfield from Loami (south of Bates), as well as an extension from Alton to Granite City in July 1894. The company was reorganized yet again in October 1897, forming the St. Louis, Chicago and St. Paul ''Railway of Illinois''. Finally, in March 1900, the Bluff Line was merged into the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis ''Railway'' of Illinois, a reorganization of the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis ''Railroad'' of Illinois, and at the same time the Litchfield-Madison line was split off as a new Litchfield and Madison Railway, which the CP&StL continued to operate under lease until June 1904.Paul Stringham, Illinois Terminal, the Electric Years, , pp. 98, 251 Interstate Commerce Commission, 43 Val. Rep. 779 (1933), Valuation Docket No. 1141: Chicago, Springfield & St. Louis Railway Company Interstate Commerce Commission, 116 I.C.C. 163 (1926)
Valuation Docket No. 479: Litchfield & Madison Railway Company
/ref> This consolidated company, with a main line from Pekin to Granite City/Madison, and branches to Jacksonville and Grafton, continued to have financial problems, and the final company to bear the name, the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis ''Railroad'', was incorporated in December 1909 and took over the property of the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis ''Railway of Illinois'' in January 1913. Operations continued until November 1924, when four separate companies purchased portions of the property at foreclosure sale: # Alton and Eastern Railroad, Granite City to Grafton, including the lease of the Alton Terminal Railway; leased to the

Illinois Terminal Company The Illinois Terminal Railroad Company (reporting marks "ITC"), known as the Illinois Traction System until 1937, was a heavy duty interurban electric railroad with extensive passenger and freight business in central and southern Illinois from ...

in 1930 and merged in 1937; now part of the Norfolk Southern Railway # Chicago, Springfield and St. Louis Railway, Lockhaven to Springfield; later abandoned # Springfield, Havana and Peoria Railroad, Springfield to Pekin; leased to the Chicago and Illinois Midland Railway in 1926 and merged in 1936; Moody's Transportation Manual, 1988, p. 575 now part of the Illinois and Midland Railroad # Jacksonville and Havana Railroad, Jacksonville to Havana; later abandoned

References

External links

Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railroad
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chicago Peoria Saint Louis Railroad Defunct Illinois railroads Former Class I railroads in the United States Railway companies established in 1909 Railway companies disestablished in 1924 1909 establishments in Illinois 1924 disestablishments in Illinois