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Railroad Development around the American Bottom region
Besides the early development of the Illinois and St. Louis Railroad and
Coal Company, most construction in Illinois began in the 1840s and 1850s.
Deciding where to build lines was the most important consideration and
there were two leading philosophies. One way of understanding the growth
of railroads suggested that the end result should be a vast interconnected
system tying all the major cities of the east coast with the newer cities
in the midwest and eventually the west. A more conservative position was
to focus on local needs and concentrate railroad potential on developing
cities within individual states. Illinois initially favored the
development of railroads within the state at the expense of out of state
cities like St. Louis. Toward this end Alton, Illinois hoped to become a
major railroad terminus. At the same time Illinoistown managed to secure
lines that placed it in a favorable position as a terminus. During the
1850s the Atlantic and Mississippi Railroad and the Ohio and Mississippi
Railroad placed lines in Illinoistown. The Atlantic and Mississippi
Railroad also had lines in Alton. Some towns that these major lines
bypassed, like Belleville, Illinois, secured branch lines to Ilinoistown.
Alton managed to secure a line to Springfield, Illinois, and that allowed a
connection to Chicago using the Illinois Central Railroad and the Chicago
and Rock Island Railroad. Geography, line placement, and a change in state
policy ended Alton's bid to become a significant terminus. Illinoistown
was just across the river from St. Louis, the railroads located lines to
the area, and the state of Illinois abandoned its plans to restrict rail
lines leading to out of state interests. Had Alton won this competition,
its leaders believed it could rival St. Louis as the central metropolis
along the midwestern part of the Mississippi.
During the nineteenth century such fierce competition reflected the growth
of a economic and geographic hierarchy among midwestern cities consisting
of concentrated commercial centers including Chicago, St. Louis,
Cincinnati, and Louisville, and second order cities serving as collection
and service stations such Alton, Belleville, and Illinoistown/East St.
Louis. At the same time St. Louis secured Illinoistown as a service
center, Chicago was expanding at an even faster rate. The completion of
the Illinois and Michigan canal in 1848 and the Illinois Central Railroad,
which ran from Chicago to Cairo, Illinois, allowed the Windy City to divert
trade from a north-south flow to an east-west direction. During the Civil
War the American Bottom region lost more trade as the Union Army blockaded
southern trade while Chicago's east-west trade continued.
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