Smithshire is an unincorporated small

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in Warren County,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States. Smithshire is located along the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

line, northeast of

Fort Madison, Iowa Fort Madison is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States along with Keokuk. Of Iowa's 99 counties, Lee County is the only one with two county seats. The population was 10,270 at the time of the 2020 census. Located alon ...

. Smithshire is southwest of Galesburg. Its population is about 100. Smithshire has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

serving ZIP code 61478, a restaurant, a church, a grainery complex, and a fire station.ZIP Code Lookup
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History

Smithshire came into being with the building of the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

line through the area in 1888. It is the only population center in Ellison Township. The abandoned town of Ellison was two miles (3 km) from Smithshire. Ellison began in the 1830s, but suffered from a catastrophic tornado in 1858, damping its growth. The remaining community moved to Smithshire with the coming of the railroad. Smithshire is the location of the corporate offices of Twomey Compan
Twomey Company
Twomey Company was a family owned agribusiness corporation, beginning in 1945. Consolidated Grain and Barge purchased the Twomey Company in 2012. Twomey Co had storage capacity for 51 million bushels when it was sold. Twomey Company operated in several western Illinois locations, including a barge loading facility on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. Smithshire has a population of approximately 100. Smithshire has one church, the Smithshire United Methodist Churc
United Methodist Church
Smithshire is a part of the West Central High School, district 235.

Transportation

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

’s ''

Southwest Chief The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and American Southwest ...

'', which operates between

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, passes through the town on

BNSF BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide ...

tracks, but makes no stop. The nearest station is located in Galesburg, to the northeast.

References

Unincorporated communities in Warren County, Illinois Unincorporated communities in Illinois Populated places established in 1888 {{WarrenCountyIL-geo-stub