Chicago & Rock Island

Company History: The C&RI began construction in 1851 with a line from Chicago, Illinois to Joliet. By 1854, they reached Rock Island and with that became the first railroad to connect Chicago with the Mississippi River. They established a subsidiary called the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad to begin building west from the other side of the river in Davenport, Iowa. In 1856, C&RI opened the first railroad bridge over the Mississippi River. Steam boat operators complained it was a hazard to navigation and proved it two weeks after the bridge opened when the steamboat “Effie Afton” struck the bridge. Actually, the boat (which usually ran south of Louisville) passed the bridge, then turned around and rammed one of the piers. Then it suspiciously caught fire. The affair ended up in the courts over the right of railroads to bridge the river. The original lawyer for Rock Island was Abraham Lincoln. The case bounced through various courts before reaching the Supreme Court in 1866, resulting in a victory for the railroad. That year, the Chicago & Rock Island was merged with the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad to form the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific.

Successor/Parent History: The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RR) (reporting marks RI, ROCK) was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was better known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end of 1970 it operated 7183 miles of road on 10669 miles of track; that year it reported 20557 million ton-miles of revenue freight and 118 million passenger-miles. (Those totals may or may not include the former Burlington-Rock Island Railroad.)

Its predecessor, the Rock Island and La Salle Railroad Company, was incorporated in Illinois on February 27, 1847, and an amended charter was approved on February 7, 1851, as the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad. Construction began October 1, 1851, in Chicago, and the first train was operated on October 10, 1852, between Chicago and Joliet. Construction continued on through La Salle, and Rock Island was reached on February 22, 1854, becoming the first railroad to connect Chicago with the Mississippi River.

In 1980 Rock Island was liquidated. The railroad's locomotives, rail cars, equipment, tracks, and real estate were sold to other railroads or to scrappers. William Gibbons (the trustee) was able to raise more than $500 million in the liquidation, paying off all the railroad's creditors, bondholders and all other debts in full at face value with interest. Henry Crown was ultimately proven correct, as both he and other bondholders who had purchased Rock Island debt for cents on the dollar during the low ebb in prices did especially well.

Read more on Wikipedia and Rock Island Technical Society.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.