McLean County, Illinois - Chapter 18: Railroads, 1924

ILLINOIS CENTRAL OLDEST - FINANCES - BUILDING OF EAST AND WEST LINESVOTING OF BONDS - BUILDING ROAD NORTH AND SOUTH - C. & A. SHOPSGROWTH OF RAILROADS - VALUATION OF RAILROAD PROPERTY - ELECTRIC RAILROADS - TELEGRAPH COMPANIES.

McLean County has four steam railroads passing through its county seat, and there are two other steam roads crossing the county, one along the northern edge, the other across the southeast corner. The oldest of these roads in point of first being projected, is the Illinois Central, which was part of the great scheme of internal improvements which the state legislature voted in 1837. The road was to be built from Galena to Cairo, but its exact route across the state was uncertain. The state voted its credit to the Central road to the extent of $3,500,000. The building of the road was started, when the financial catastrophe of 1841 occurred, and its further construction was delayed ten years. On Sept. 30, 1850, a law passed congress donating to the State of Illinois for the use of the Central railroad nearly 2,500,000 acres of public land, the state to dictate the terms on which the land was to be granted. The state in turn required by law that the Central road should pay to the state treasury 7 per cent of its gross receipts. This payment grew as years went on until it reached $1,000,000 per year. Afterward many of the counties, including Mc- Lean, complained that part of this money received from the Illinois Central, should go into the county treasuries of the counties through which the road was built. When the line was to be laid out for the construction of the road, General Gridley was in the Legislature, and he tried to get it routed through Decatur, Clinton and Bloomington, three county seats within his district. Owing to much rivalry for the route, it seemed that his purpose might be defeated, but he secured its final routing to pass within five miles east of the corner of town 21 north range on 1 east. This point is two and a half miles east of Heyworth, which would have routed the road eight miles east of Bloomington. General Gridley's purpose was accomplished, for when the building of the road was begun it was seen that it must be constructed through Decatur, Clinton and Bloomington. The first part of the line was built from the north, and a train was run down from LaSalle to Bloomington on May 3, 1853. The panic of 1857 came soon after the building of the road this far, and the further development of the line was much retarded.

The east and west steam roads running through Bloomington had checkered careers in getting started. The line known as the Big Four of recent years, and later as the New York Central, from Peoria to Danville, was first projected in 1837 as part of the great internal improvement scheme mentioned in connection with the Illinois Central. The road had been graded from Pekin to Mackinaw when the hard times of 1841 came. This retarded the completion of the road for more than ten years, in j 857 a vote was taken on the proposition of Bloomington Township voting bonds of $100,000 to assist in financing this road, but by a vote of 1,570 to 1,166 it was defeated. The project lay dormant until about 1866, when it was revived. The following year Bloomington Township did vote the $100,000 bonds for this enterprise, while Empire Township also bonded itself for $75,000 to aid the road, and West Township gave $20,000 in a similar way. The line was completed from Pekin to Bloomington on May 31, 1870. It later became known as the Indianapolis, Eioomington & Western, then the Peoria & Eastern, and finally the Big Four and now the New York Central.

Early in the '50's there was a project for building the Peoria, Bloomington & Lafayette Railroad, which, however, did not get much of a start. It was revived in 1867 under the name of the Lafayette, Bloomington & Mississippi, to be built first from Bloomington to Lafayette, Ind., and eventually completed west to Peoria. On June 3, 1867, Bloomington Township voted $100,000 in bonds to aid this road, McLean County also subscribed for $20,000 of bonds, and various townships along its route voted aid as follows: Padua, $30,000; Arrowsmith, $30,000; Cheney's

Grove, $50,000; village of Saybrook, $10,000. The road was completed from Lafayette to Bloomington in 1872, and it was completed west to Peoria in 1885. The name changed several times, being known as the Lake Erie & Western, and now as the Nickel Plate. The state constitution of 1870 prevented any county or municipality issuing bonds to aid a railroad, hence after that year no railroad bonds were voted.

In point of its future effect upon, the prosperity of Bloomington and of McLean County in general, the most important railroad built into the city and county was what is now known as the Chicago & Alton, but which in its earlier stages was known as the Alton & Sangamon road. This road, connecting the great cities of Chicago and St. Louis, with Bloomington its principal division terminal, was built in sections under at least five different charters granted by the State of Illinois. When it came into McLean County it arrived rather quietly, and with no flourish of trumpets as had the Illinois Central road. The Central had been under discussion in the State of Illinois since 1836, and its extension south from LaSalle in 1853 brought to Bloomington its greatest crowd of people known up to that time when the first train reached the city. On Feb. 6, 1851, General Gridley, then a member of the State Senate, wrote a letter to the Western Intelligencer, published at Bloomington, in which he exulted over the passage by the Legislature of the bill chartering the Illinois Central Railroad, and added: "I am also of the opinion that the bill extending the charter of the Alton & Sangamon Railroad Company to Bloomington will pass the house and become a law; in which event I am assured by the agent of the company that the road will be constructed and completed in two years."

The bill did pass the Legislature, surveys were made, the contracts let for building the road north to Bloomington, and on Oct. 16, 1853, the first trains were run from the south into Bloomington. For several months the trains from the south connected with the Illinois Central at Bloomington Junction (Normal), thence over the Central via LaSalle to Chicago. At that time the road advertised to take passengers to New York via Chicago "in only sixty hours."

As the road reached Bloomington in the late fall, it was impossible to finish the line north until the following summer. The building started north from Bloomington and was finished so that an excursion train was run down from Lexington on July 4, 1854. The Joliet & Chicago road had been previously constructed, so that when the extension north from Bloomington to Chicago was made, the line was completed from St. Louis to Chicago. The Illinois Central depot was located at the eastern edge of town, and the leaders of that day, Jesse Fell and others, thought it best to locate the Chicago & Alton depot on the western edge, thinking the town would spread out between the two. Jesse Fell, David Davis, General Gridley and others secured, donations of land and other gifts to secure for Bloomington the location of the repair shops of the new road, thus laying the foundations of what proved to be the city's chief industrial enterprise. The shops in turn gave rise to the idea of building from Bloomington the new division to Jacksonville in 1867, for which Bloomington Township and city of Bloomington voted bonds of $75,000. If this aid had not been given, the Jacksonville line would have been built north from Delavan to Washington.

The small shops of the C. & A. erected in 1853-54 were burned down in 1867, and it required a strong effort on the part of citizens to secure consent to rebuild here, for Chicago, Springfield and Joliet were all seeking the location. The fact that the road had three divisions centering here was one of the main arguments in favor of Bloomington.

As an indication of the growth and developments of the railroads and their holdings in McLean County, the figures of the assessed valuation of railorad property in the county for the year 1923 may be cited. There are in this county for the year 1923 a total of 218 miles of steam railway lines, the total property value of which as assessed by the state tax commission was $4,144,542, while the total assessed valuation was $2,589,- 677. It is well known that the assessed valuation is one-half of the real valuation, and even at that the figures are always very low. Railroads of the county, the number of miles of each and the total amount of property as assessed by the state tax commission for the year 1923 were as follows :

Chicago & Alton - Forty-two miles; assessed valuation, $849,712; property values, $1,807,620. Bloomington & Jacksonville (branch of Chicago & Alton), 14 miles; assessed valuation $198,729; property values, $296,171.

The two electric railroads last mentioned are parts of the Illinois Traction System, whose total mileage in this county is 30 miles, and total assessed valuation $179,591 ; total property values, $223,285.

The first use of a telegraph line into Bloomington or McLean County took place on January 28, 1854. The line was from Springfield to Bloomington, which was constructed after citizens of Bloomington had subscribed $1,000 as a bonus to the Western Union Telegraph Company for such a line. In August, 1853, John Caton, pioneer of the Western Union, came to Bloomington and told General Gridley that if the citizens would take- $1,000 of stock his company would give the city an office on the line from Springfield to Chicago. The purse of $1,000 was made up, mostly in subscriptions of $50 each, and the poles were soon set and wires strung. The first message, sent on January 28, from Springfield to the editor of the Pantagraph, as follows:

Matthew L. Steele was the first operator, who served till 1866, when Arthur T. McElhiney succeeded him and filled the position for 25 years.

The telegraph companies in Bloomington have kept pace with modern facilities and improvements in other lines. The Western Union now has a large and handsomely equipped office located at 210 West Washington Street.