The Peoria and Rock Island Railroad was a railroad of in length, located in the U.S. state of

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

. It provided service between the two cities listed in its corporate name. Chartered on March 7, 1867, it was built between 1867 and 1871 and first provided passenger service between these two cities on July 8, 1871. The railroad is best known for being the right-of-way for the Rock Island Trail State Park, a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

conversion.

History

The Peoria and Rock Island (P & RI) was built during the post-

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

1860s, a period of substantial railroad development, especially in the victorious Northern states. Although both

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

and

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Rock Island Arsenal, Arsenal Island. The popul ...

are located on navigable waterways and enjoyed substantial freight traffic by

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

, there would be no direct water connection between the

Upper Mississippi River The Upper Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River upstream of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, at the confluence of its main tributary, the Missouri River. History In terms of geologic and hydrographic history, the Upper ...

and the

Illinois River The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...

until the construction of the

Hennepin Canal The Hennepin Canal State Trail, also just called the Hennepin Canal, is an abandoned waterway in northwest Illinois, between the Mississippi River at Rock Island and the Illinois River near Hennepin. The entire canal is listed on the National ...

in 1907. The Peoria and Rock Island went into foreclosure and, for legal purposes, changed its name to the Rock Island and Peoria Railway in October 1877. The largest railroad serving Rock Island was the

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

, a multi-state railroad. The 1877 foreclosure drew the Rock Island and Peoria into the orbit of the CRI & P. On June 11, 1903, the former P & RI became a

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

of the larger transportation company. As a branch line, the P & RI specialized in the transportation of freight from the "Rock Island's" Great Plains service area to Peoria. During the early years of the 20th century,

distilleries Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heating ...

in Peoria manufactured a significant share of U.S. produced

blended whiskey A blended whiskey (or blended whisky) is the product of blending different types of whiskeys and sometimes also neutral grain spirits, colorings, and flavorings. It is generally the product of mixing one or more higher-quality straight or single ...

. Carloads of small grains such as

rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

and

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

rumbled southeastward on the former Peoria and Rock Island to the fermentation vats. The enactment of

American Prohibition In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a nationwide constitutional law prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, and ...

in 1919, together with the invention of the mass-produced

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

, dealt the former Peoria and Rock Island a blow from which it could not recover. The Rock Island railroad began to shut down its Peoria branch line in 1963. While that section of the P & RI that stretches from Peoria north to

Toulon, Illinois Toulon is a city in Stark County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,292 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stark County. Toulon is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the northwestern terminu ...

became a public trail in 1989, the northern section of the same right-of-way, between Toulon and Rock Island, was liquidated into the hands of adjacent landowners in the private sector.

References

{{reflist Defunct Illinois railroads Predecessors of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Transportation in Peoria County, Illinois Transportation in Rock Island County, Illinois Transportation in Stark County, Illinois

History

See also

References