Logan County IL Archives History - Books .....Transportation 1953
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 31, 2007, 12:34 am

Book Title: A History Of Atlanta

TRANSPORTATION

CHICAGO & ALTON RAILROAD

    As previously stated, Atlanta owes its beginning to the coming of the
Chicago & Alton Railroad. The Alton and Sangamon Railroad Company was authorized
by an act of the legislature of Illinois, passed Feb. 27, 1847, to construct a
railroad from Alton to Springfield, a distance of 72 miles. Work on the road was
commenced in 1849 and completed in 1852. On Feb. 11, 1851, the legislature
passed a bill extending the road to Bloomington. As soon as the road was
completed to Springfield in 1852 the work of pushing the road farther north was
begun. The line reached Atlanta in the fall of 1853.

    In the meantime the name of the road was changed to the Chicago &
Mississippi Railroad. In 1855, the road was reorganized as the Chicago^^ Alton
and St. Louis Railroad and the original line was extended to Joliet, being
completed in 1856. At the same time, the line of the Joliet and Chicago railroad
was leased in perpetuity, making a through line from Alton to Chicago. The name
of the railroad was successively changed to St. Louis, Alton & Chicago; Alton,
Chicago & St. Louis, and finally to the name, Chicago & Alton. Under this name,
the system became one of the main arteries between Chicago and St. Louis. In the
1930's, the railroad came under the control of the Baltimore & Ohio system and
later a part of the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio railroad, under which it is now operated.

    An interesting chapter in the history of the Chicago & Alton railroad in
connection with Atlanta was its project in the early part of this century to
reduce the grade between Atlanta and Lawndale. The steep grade added much to the
expense of operating freight traffic, and trains which could easily negotiate
all other parts of the line became stalled on the Atlanta-Lawndale hill. A
"pusher" engine was used for many years to help heavy trains up the grade, but
this was an expensive and unsatisfactory method of solving the problem. A
contract was awarded the Patton & Gibson Construction Co. to make a fill at the
Lawndale end and a deep cut through Atlanta. The plans called for the railroad
to go through Atlanta many feet beyow [sic] the level of the city streets,
requiring viaducts at several of the main crossings. For this disfigurement of
the town, the railroad offered many concessions, among which was the stipulation
that all passenger trains should make regular stops in Atlanta, a distinction
which the city enjoyed for many years.

    However, the work of reducing the grade was never completed. After many
thousands of tons of earth were moved and the work was well underway, the road
became involved financially and today the large mounds of earth north of
Lawndale are the only visible results of a project which came to be known as
"Felton's Folly." But modern inventive genius solved the problem which caused
the railroad so much trouble and expense in the earlier days. The powerful
diesel engines of the present day easily haul up the Atlanta-Lawndale hill long
freight trains which were unheard of in the days of the steam locomotive.

PEORIA, ATLANTA AND DECATUR RAILROAD

    The circumstances surrounding the financing and building of the Peoria,
Atlanta and Decatur Railroad proved to be an unpleasant and costly chapter in
the history of the Atlanta community. The affair is well described in the Logan
County history of the late Lawrence B. Stringer, and we quote as follows from
his version:

    The Peoria, Atlanta and Decatur Railroad was incorporated by act of the
General Assembly, March 1, 1869. The incorporators were William R. Hamilton,
Valentine Dewein, John T. Lindsay, Robert G. Ingersoll, Seth Talbot, A. N.
Dills, H. Armington, W. S. Dunham, J. C. Prescott, Thomas Smith, F. N. Ewing,
James Millikin and J. J. Peddecord. The capital stock was fixed at $100,000. A
meeting was held in Atlanta, April 17, 1869 to consider ways and means to
advance the proposed road. Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, of Peoria, who was attorney
for the road, addressed the meeting. It was the sense of the meeting that
Atlanta township should subscribe to the capital stock, to the amount of $50,000
and bonds be issued therefor. The proposition was submitted to the voters of the
township, June 16, 1869, and the bonds were voted by a margin of 265 to 29. Work
began on the road in 1870, but was not completed until the summer of 1874.

    The Atlanta township bonds were issued and delivered to the company, but
when the time came for the payment of taxes thereon, the company was met with a
refusal to pay. It was claimed that the company had not complied with its part
of the contract, that work on the road at that time had ceased, that the company
did not intend to complete the road, that the act of incorporation was illegally
passed, and that the bonds had been taken by the company without the consent of
the supervisor. All this the company strenuously denied. In 1874, an injunction
was applied for to restrain the collector from collecting taxes to pay interest
on bonds. On trial, this injunction was dissolved. Finally, a compromise
proposition, by which the township was to pay the bondholders $62,000, for
principal and interest of the bonds, was endorsed by the voters at an election
held in April, 1882, by a vote of 228 for and 72 against, and accepted by the
bondholders, and the matter was thus settled.

    On Nov, 4, 1874, the Peoria, Atlanta and Decatur Company consolidated, its
line with that of the Paris & Decatur and the Paris and Terre Haute Railroad
Companies, forming a continuous line from Peoria to Terre Haute, Ind., and the
consolidated lines assumed the name of Illinois Midland. In 1886, the Illinois
Midland was sold under foreclosure to a syndicate of Indianapolis capitalists
and was reorganized as the Terre Haute and Peoria Railroad. In 1892, it was
leased for ninety-nine years to the Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, and for
a short time was also under the control of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago &
St. Louis System. Until the great Pennsylvania System took over the lines or
January 1, 1921, it was known as a part of the "Vandalia System" and is still so
designated by many older people in this territory.

THE BICYCLE AGE

    The last decade of the nineteenth century saw the bicycle emerge as a
popular means of personal transportation. The development of the "safety"
bicycle with pneumatic tires, in contrast to the high wheel type of an earlier
day, created a fad which swept the country. In Atlanta, the Atlanta Bicycle Club
was formed, and sedate Atlanta ladies donned bloomers and divided skirts and in
groups pedaled their wheels over the dusty roads of the countryside. Bicycle
racing became the rage, and a race meet was held at the Atlanta Fair grounds in
which riders of national renown competed for prizes of watches and diamonds.
Baby Bliss, the ponderous fat boy from Bloomington was an attraction. Rivalry
sprang up among local racers. One that is still remembered culminated in a match
race between Fred Storrs and the late Marion Watt. After one postponement, the
race was run on a track at the east edge of Armington with Watt the winner.
Atlanta even had its own bicycle factory. Atlanta's young mechanical genius,
George W. McIntyre, built sturdy machines which were highly prized by their owners.

THE HORSELESS CARRIAGE ARRIVES

    Atlanta people were introduced to the automobile through a chugging little
one-cylinder Oldsmobile, brought here in 1902 by James C. Shores, and many still
remember the thrill experienced in their first ride in this primitive machine.
Soon others followed the example of Mr. Shores, and by 1910 the automobile was
beginning to assume a role as a highly desirable pleasure vehicle in the lives
of a number of Atlanta people. It was not until 1923, with the completion of the
"hard road" (Illinois Route 4, later to become U. S. Route 66) that the
automobile began to take its place as a family necessity. With a year round
outlet from the city, our people quickly recognized the advantages and
conveniences of this modern means of transportation, and the automobile became
an influence in changing the daily living of our citizens, just as did the
coming of the telephone and electricity in an earlier period.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

A HISTORY OF ATLANTA 1853-1953

Prepared by Citizens of Atlanta
As a Part of the Observance of the
Centennial, June 11,12 and 13,1953

THE PUBLICATION IS SPONSORED BY THE ATLANTA WOMAN'S CLUB

Atlanta, Illinois 1953

Published By
The Stewart - Pinks Publishing Co.
Atlanta, Illinois


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