Catherine Carroll "Kate" Shelley (December 12, 1863 – January 21, 1912) was a midwestern United States railroad heroine and the first woman in the United States to have a
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
named after her, the
Kate Shelley High Bridge
The Kate Shelley High Bridge, officially called the Boone Viaduct when it was completed in 1901, is one of the highest and longest double-track railroad bridges in the United States. It is located approximately west of Boone, Iowa.
It was nick ...
. She was also one of the few women to have a train named after her, the ''
Kate Shelley 400''.
Background
Catherine Carroll Shelley was born at Loughaun, a crossroads near the village of
Dunkerrin
Dunkerrin () is a small village in County Offaly, Ireland, just south of Roscrea and near the County Tipperary border. It is on the R445 road which was once the main road from Dublin to Limerick. Dunkerrin is now bypassed by the M7, the nearest ...
and the town of
Moneygall
Moneygall () is a small village on the border of counties Offaly and Tipperary, in Ireland. It is situated on the R445 road between Dublin and Limerick. There were 313 people living in the village as of the 2016 census. Moneygall has a Catholic ...
, in
County Offaly, Ireland.
[''Kate Shelley: Heroine of the High Bridges'']
/ref> Dunkerrin Catholic Church records show that her parents, Michael and Margaret Shelley, married on February 24, 1863, and she was baptized on December 12, 1863. Her grave marker says she was born on September 25, 1865, and died January 21, 1912. The family name was originally spelled Shelly, which is how she wrote her name, but the spelling Shelley was later adopted.[''Kate Shelley: Railway Heroine'']
/ref>
Michael was likely a tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...
in Ireland. The family emigrated
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
to the United States when Shelley was years old. They first lived with relatives near Freeport, Illinois
Freeport is the county seat and largest city of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 23,973 at the 2020 census, and the mayor of Freeport is Jodi Miller, elected in 2017. Freeport is known for hosting the second Linc ...
, then built a home on about near Honey Creek, a perennial tributary stream to the Des Moines River
The Des Moines River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that is approximately long from its farther headwaters.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Na ...
in Boone County, Iowa located to the east of Moingona
The Moingona or Moingwena ( mia, mooyiinkweena) were a historic Miami-Illinois tribe. They may have been close allies of or perhaps part of the Peoria (tribe), Peoria. They were assimilated by that tribe and lost their separate identity about 1700. ...
. Michael became foreman of a section crew, building tracks for the Chicago and North Western Railway
The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...
.
Michael died of "consumption
Consumption may refer to:
*Resource consumption
*Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically
* Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms
* Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...
", in 1878. Shelley had to help support the family by plowing, planting, harvesting crops, and hunting. In 1880, the family consisted of Margaret, Shelley, Mary, Margaret, and John, living in Worth Township. A fifth child, James, was also born in Iowa, but he drowned while swimming in the Des Moines River
The Des Moines River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that is approximately long from its farther headwaters.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Na ...
when he was ten.
Des Moines River bridge collapse
Shelley gained fame due to her heroic actions in the aftermath of the collapse of the Des Moines River Bridge.
On the afternoon of July 6, 1881, heavy thunderstorms caused a flash flood of Honey Creek, Iowa, washing out timbers that supported the railroad trestle. A pusher locomotive sent from Moingona to check track conditions crossed the Des Moines River bridge, but plunged into Honey Creek when the bridge fell away at about 11pm, with a crew of four — Edgar Wood, A.P. Olmstead, Adam Agar, and Patrick Donahue.[''The Kate Shelley Story''](_blank)
/ref>
Shelley heard the crash, and knew that an eastbound express passenger train was due in Moingona about midnight, stopping shortly before heading east over the Des Moines River and then Honey Creek. She found two surviving crew members, Wood and Agar, and shouted that she would get help, having to cross the Des Moines River bridge along the way. The lantern she brought with her went out, and she crawled the span on her hands and knees, with only lightning for illumination. Once across, she had to walk approximately two miles to the Moingona depot to sound the alarm. She then led a party back to rescue Wood and Agar. Wood was pulled to safety by a rope, while Agar couldn't be reached until the floodwaters began to recede. Pat Donahue's body was eventually found in a cornfield a quarter mile downstream from the bridge, but A.P. Olmsted was never found. The passenger train was stopped at Scranton
Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...
, with about 200 aboard.
Aftermath
The passengers who had been saved took up a collection for Shelley. The "little girls" of Dubuque
Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...
gave her a medal, and the state of Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
gave her another one, crafted by Tiffany & Co., and $200. The Chicago and North Western Railway gave her $100, a half barrel of flour, half a load of coal, and a lifetime pass. The Order of Railway Conductors
The Order of Railway Conductors of America (ORC) was a labor union that represented train conductors in the United States. It has its origins in the Conductors Union founded in 1868. Later it extended membership to brakemen. In 1969 the ORC merg ...
gave her a gold watch and chain.
News of Shelley's bravery spread nationwide; poems and songs were composed honoring her. The Chicago and North Western Railway built a new steel bridge in 1901 and named it the Boone Viaduct, but people quickly nicknamed it the Kate Shelley Bridge or Kate Shelley High Bridge. It was the first and, until the Betsy Ross Bridge
The Betsy Ross Bridge, also known as the Ross Memorial Bridge, is a continuous steel truss bridge spanning the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Pennsauken, New Jersey. It was built from 1969 to 1974, and opened in April 1976, du ...
in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
was opened in 1976, perhaps the only one in the country named after a woman. A second viaduct was built alongside the old one by the Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
from 2006 to 2009. It can accommodate heavy trains, features two tracks, and can handle two trains simultaneously at a speed of 70 mph. It was opened on October 1, 2009, as the new Kate Shelley Bridge, and is one of North America's tallest double-track railroad bridges.
In the early 1880s, Frances E. Willard, a reformer and temperance leader, wrote Shelley's friend, Isabella Parks, who was the wife of the president of Simpson College
Simpson College is a private Methodist liberal arts college in Indianola, Iowa. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and has about 1,250 full-time and 300 part-time students. In addition to the Indianola residential campus, Simpso ...
at Indianola, offering $25 toward an advanced education for her. Parks raised additional funds for her to attend during the term of 1883–84, but she didn't come back the following term.
Later in life
In 1890, the ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' revealed that the Shelley land was mortgaged for $500 at 10% and was near foreclosure. An Armenian rug, woven in the display window
A display window, also a shop window (British English) or store window (American English), is a window in a shop displaying items for sale or otherwise designed to attract customers to the store. Usually, the term refers to larger windows in the f ...
of a Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
furniture store, was auctioned for that amount, retiring the mortgage, and other Chicagoans donated an additional $417.
In July 1896, it was reported that Shelley had applied to the Iowa legislature
The Iowa General Assembly is the legislative branch of the state government of Iowa. Like the federal United States Congress, the General Assembly is a bicameral body, composed of the upper house Iowa Senate and the lower Iowa House of Repr ...
for employment in the State House as a menial because she was destitute and had to support her mother and invalid brother. She worked at the Iowa State Capitol
The Iowa State Capitol, commonly called the Iowa Statehouse, is in Iowa's capital city, Des Moines. As the seat of the Iowa General Assembly, the building houses the Iowa Senate, Iowa House of Representatives, the Office of the Governor, and the ...
more than once, but the rumor of an invalid brother was untrue, as John, her surviving one, worked for the Chicago and North Western Railway for most of his life. Ongoing reports that her mother was an invalid or was in ill health, requiring constant care, were also refuted over the years. Her mother died in 1909.
Although there were apparently men interested in Shelley, supposedly including the switchman
A switchman (North America) or pointsman (British Isles) is a rail transport worker whose original job was to operate various railway switches or points on a railroad. It also refers to a person who assists in moving cars in a railway yard o ...
in the yard at Moingona, she never married and lived most of her life with her mother and sister Mary, known as "Mayme".
Shelley held many odd jobs, including that of second-class teacher in Boone County, until 1903, when the Chicago and North Western Railway gave her the job of station agent at the new Moingona depot, the old depot having burned down in 1901.
In 1910, Shelley's health began to decline. In June 1911, doctors at Carroll Hospital removed her appendix. After more than a month in the hospital, she returned to Boone County and stayed with John. She was reported to be a little better by September, but she died on January 12, 1912, from Bright's disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and was frequently accompanied ...
(acute nephritis).
Years later, the Chicago and North Western Railway began operating streamlined passenger trains, and named one the ''Kate Shelley 400''. It operated from 1955 to 1971, although the name was officially dropped in 1963.
Legacy
The Kate Shelley Railroad Museum was built in same location where the Moingona railroad depot was situated in 1881. The Shelley family donated a collection of letters and papers of family members of Shelley, 1860–1911, to Iowa State University. The timetable accents for Metra
Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines. ...
's Union Pacific/West Line
The Union Pacific West Line (UP-W) is a Metra commuter rail line operated by Union Pacific Railroad in Chicago, Illinois and its western suburbs. Metra does not refer to its lines by particular colors, but the timetable accents for the Union Paci ...
are printed in "Kate Shelley Rose" pink.
The original high steel bridge nicknamed the Kate Shelley High Bridge (officially called the Boone Viaduct) still stands. In 2009, the Union Pacific Railroad completed a new concrete and steel one next to it and christened it the Kate Shelley Bridge.
The Iowa poet and politician, John Brayshaw Kaye
John Brayshaw Kaye (June 10, 1841 – March 29, 1909) was an English-born American poet, lawyer and politician.
Life and works
John Brayshaw Kaye was born in Yorkshire, England, June 10, 1841, the fifth child and the fourth son of Abram and M ...
, wrote a poem in Shelley's honor called, "Our Kate", in his collection ''Songs of Lake Geneva'' (1882).[''Songs of Lake Geneva'' (1882) and other poems, G.P.Putnam's Sons, New Yor]
/ref>
Margaret Wetterer wrote a children's book called ''Kate Shelley and the Midnight Express'' in 1991 telling Shelley's story. It was featured in an episode of the children's television program ''Reading Rainbow
''Reading Rainbow'' is an American educational children's television series that originally aired on PBS and afterwards PBS Kids and PBS Kids Go! from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 ...
''.
References
External links
http://www.Shelleyshelley.com
Shelley Shelley, Heroine of the High Bridge
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shelley, Kate
1865 births
1912 deaths
19th-century American women
Deaths from kidney failure
Deaths from nephritis
Iowa folklore
Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923)
People from Boone County, Iowa
People from County Offaly
People from Worth County, Iowa