Waubonsee Community College

The iron road in the Prairie State, the story of Illinois railroading, Simon Cordery

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-212) and index

index present

non fiction

The iron road in the Prairie State

bibliography

910087940

Simon Cordery

Railroads past and present

the story of Illinois railroading

In 1836, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas agreed on one thing: Illinois needed railroads. Over the next fifty years, the state became the nation's railroad hub, with Chicago at its center. Speculators, greed, growth, and regulation followed as the railroad industry consumed unprecedented amounts of capital and labor. A nationwide market resulted, and the Windy City became the site of opportunities and challenges that remain to this day. In this first-of-its-kind history, full of entertaining anecdotes and colorful characters, Simon Cordery describes the explosive growth of Illinois railroads and its impact on America. Cordery shows how railroading in Illinois influenced railroad financing, the creation of a national economy, and government regulation of business. Cordery's masterful chronicle of rail development in Illinois from 1837 to 2010 reveals how the state's expanding railroads became the foundation of the nation's rail network

Preliminaries -- Development delayed -- Optimism revived -- Cultivating the prairie -- Financing railroads -- Conflagrations and expansion -- Illinois railroad labor -- A kaleidoscope of regulations -- Panic and innovation -- Bridge building and "overbuilding" -- Excursions and interurbans -- Coal and competition -- Progressive regulation -- World War I and the 1920s -- Depression, dieselization, and another war -- Postwar challenges -- National solutions? -- Salvation -- Epilogue