The Pacific Railroad (not to be confused with Union Pacific Railroad) was a railroad based in Missouri. It was a predecessor of both the Missouri Pacific Railroad and

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. The Pacific was chartered by Missouri in 1849 to extend "from St. Louis to the western boundary of Missouri and thence to the Pacific Ocean." Due to a

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epidemic in St. Louis in 1849 and other delays, groundbreaking did not occur until July 4, 1851.St. Louis Historic Context: Transportation
/ref> The railroad purchased its first

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

from a manufacturer in Taunton, Massachusetts; it arrived at St. Louis by river in August 1852. On December 9, 1852, the Pacific Railroad had its inaugural run, traveling from its depot on Fourteenth Street, along the Mill Creek Valley, to

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Frisco Depots: St. Louis County, Missouri
/ref> in about ten minutes. By the following May, it had reached Kirkwood; within months tunnels west of Kirkwood were completed, allowing the line to reach Franklin. The Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad was authorized in 1852 and split off at Franklin (renamed Pacific, Missouri, in 1859), as the

Southwest Pacific Railroad The Atlantic and Pacific Railroad was a U.S. railroad that owned or operated two disjointed segments, one connecting St. Louis, Missouri with Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the other connecting Albuquerque, New Mexico with Needles in Southern California ...

(later the main line of the

) in 1866. Financial difficulties meant that Pacific Railroad did not reach Washington, eighteen miles away, until February 1855. On November 1, 1855, an excursion train carrying 600 passengers from St. Louis to celebrate the opening of the railroad to Jefferson City crashed through a temporary bridge over the Gasconade River killing at least 30. This became known as the

Gasconade Bridge train disaster The Gasconade Bridge train disaster was a rail accident in Gasconade, Missouri, on November 1, 1855. The Gasconade bridge collapsed under the locomotive ''O'Sullivan'' while crossing. More than thirty were killed in the first major deadly bridge c ...

. Later that year, the line reached Jefferson City, the state capital. By July 1858 the Pacific Railroad reached Tipton, the eastern terminus for the Butterfield Overland Mail, an overland mail service to San Francisco. The combined rail/coach service reduced mail delivery times between St. Louis and San Francisco from about 35 days to less than 25 days. In 1865, it became the first railroad to serve

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

, after construction was interrupted by the American Civil War. In 1872, the Pacific Railroad was reorganized as the Missouri Pacific Railroad by new investors after a railroad debt crisis.

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* {{Authority control Defunct Missouri railroads Defunct Kansas railroads Predecessors of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Railway companies established in 1849 Railway companies disestablished in 1876 1849 establishments in Missouri

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