Lombard's Early Railroad History
/Before you come to see our wonderful exhibit Lombard-A Three Train Town, read our blog post on Railroads in the Chicagoland area.
Reading About Railroads
Before reading about railroads throughout American history, there are two concepts to consider. The first is to understand the timeline of railroads in the United States during the nineteenth century. The first steam locomotive was invented around 1804 by British inventor Richard Trevithic. From there, construction began on the first railroad company, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, in 1830. Railroads continued to expand throughout the United States, compiling about 9,000 miles of track by 1850.
By 1851, however, the game changed entirely. The question of transporting perishable foods from farms to markets made getting access to fresh food difficult. That same year the first successful attempt at a refrigerated boxcar was completed. This meant that food products such as meat, fruits, and vegetables could be transported safely over long distances.
Railroads took another step forward and in 1862 construction began on the first transcontinental railroad. The first transcontinental railroad connected the far reaches of the American West to the more established American East. The first transcontinental railroad was thus completed in 1869, and railroads had cemented themselves as the fastest, safest, and easiest way to travel in the United States.
Early Illinois Railroads
The Northern Cross Railroad
The first railroad to lay its tracks in Illinois was the Northern Cross Railroad. Though the Northern Cross Railroad only lasted from 1838 to 1847, its effects set the stage for railroads to begin establishing themselves in Illinois, despite some early challenges. The Northern Cross began in Meredosia and traveled routes like a 59-mile journey to Springfield. However, the poor quality materials used to build the railroad, and expensive maintenance costs made this trip difficult, and the route never became regular for the line.
The Northern Cross’s financial situation became more dire as the 1840s progressed, eventually, the line even resorted to using mules to pull its cargo along tracks, as the line’s locomotives had fallen into disrepair. In 1847, the Northern Cross was sold at auction and ceased operations. Though the Northern Cross Railroad’s tenure was short-lived, several railroads followed in its footsteps with more success.
The Alton and Sangamon Railroad
Alton Railroad. (2023, April 28). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Railroad
The Alton and Sangamon Railroad, the first of these successors, began construction in late 1850. During the Alton and Sangamon Railroad’s construction, the Illinois state government took an interest in another possible railroad that would run from Chicago to Cairo, a settlement on the southern tip of the state.
This newly proposed railroad gave the Alton and Sangamon Railroad, now known as the Chicago and Mississippi Railroad, financial competition. In 1852 the Chicago and Mississippi undertook its first journey from Alton to Springfield. The railroad that had been proposed during the construction of Chicago and Mississippi became known as the Illinois Central Railroad.
The Illinois Central Railroad
Advertisement for the Illinois Central Railway, December, 1870
Over the remainder of the 1800s, the Illinois Central emerged as the dominant railroad throughout Illinois and much of the Great Lakes Midwest. The Illinois Central Railroad was initially chartered in 1851, and construction was completed by 1856. When construction had been completed around 705 miles of track had been built, making the Illinois Central the longest railroad in the world at that time. When the Illinois Central began to plan for their initial tracks to be laid, they chose to begin just South of Chicago and enter Chicago through the Southern lakefront. The Illinois Central invested in the infrastructure of Chicago, such as its 1856 passenger station, which was said to have been too big for the city at the time.
Illinois, Chicago, and the Railroad
The transformation of Chicago and Illinois would not have been possible without the involvement of the railroad. Between 1840 and 1860, Chicago’s population increased from 4,470 to 112,172 residents. These railroads, among a plethora of others, brought resources through Chicago and Illinois, which helped establish the city as a hub of resource management, production, and labor. The railroads also brought many people to Chicago, many of whom stayed and became part of the growing workforce and financial elite that began to emerge in the 1840s.
Pioneer is the name of the first railroad locomotive to operate in Chicago, Illinois. It was built in 1837.
The Galena and Chicago Union Railroad: Building A Brighter Future For Chicago, Illinois, and Lombard…
Early railroad companies often found themselves in financial trouble and were forced to consolidate. The Galena and Chicago Union is a great example of this, in 1864 this train line would be named the Chicago North Western Railroad and by 1995 became the Union Pacific.
Specifically, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, which was chartered in 1836 and operated between 1848 and 1864, contributed to and exemplified the rise of the railroad in Chicago and Illinois, all while passing through the settlement of Babcock’s Grove, known today as Lombard.
The Galena and Chicago Union helped Chicago and surrounding communities reach new heights, though unfortunately, the railroad was never able to sustain its operations independently. Despite its name, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad never reached Galena and instead stopped in Freeport, Illinois. The railroad had been chartered in 1836 with the intention of capturing resource shipments from Wisconsin’s mineral lands that had been driven through Galena, as ports along Lake Michigan were seen as superior.
The Galena and Chicago Union also brought the locomotive known as “The Pioneer” through the settlement. The Pioneer was the first locomotive to operate in the Chicagoland area and was a staple of the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad until its merger to become the Chicago North Western Railroad in 1864. The Pioneer and the Galena and Chicago Union remain iconic pieces of Chicago’s railroad history that are intertwined with the story of the developing Babcock’s Grove.
William B. Ogden
The idea of chartering a railroad was further spurred by North-Side Chicagoan real-estate men, such as Chicago’s first mayor William B. Ogden, who believed connecting a railroad through Chicago’s Northside would increase property values in the region. The Galena and Chicago Union also leased tracks in a number of surrounding states throughout its lifetime, however, it still failed to secure its place in the growing scene of Chicagoland railroads.
Chicago’s economy and population were not the only things that grew with the onset of railroads, surrounding communities, including the newly established Babcock’s Grove (now Lombard) greatly benefitted from being situated along the paths of railroads. Initially, the Galena and Chicago Union was the first to pass through Babcock’s Grove in 1848, and though the Galena and Chicago Union’s days were short-lived, the railroad’s presence in Babcocks Grove was not.
CHicago North WESTERN, CTrain Depot, Lombard, nd, Lombard Historical Socity Collection
Railroads were a part of Lombard from the 1860s onward. Other railroad companies such as the Chicago North Western, Chicago Great Western, Chicago, Aurora, & Elgin, and Union Pacific operated through Lombard over the next century and a half.
In 2019, the world’s largest steam locomotive, the Union Pacific’s 4-8-8-4 Big Boy, previously in service during the 1940s, ceremonially passed through Lombard. The Big Boy’s 2019 journey signified Lombard’s place in over a century of Railroad history that is still unfolding to this day.
Big Boy Train, Lombard on Friday, July 26, Steve Spoden, 2019
To learn more about Lombard train history, make sure to see our exhibition at the Sheldon Peck Homestead which is open until November 30, 2023.
Writtten by LHS Summer Intern Joe Noce.
