Railroads were key to Rockford's rise as a thriving manufacturing and commercial center. With an area population of over 200,000 residents and a reputation for manufactured goods, Rockford had a critical need for railroads into the bust years of the 1970s. Eventually four railroads rose to prominence in Rockford, all of them Class 1 carriers: the Chicago and North Western; Chicago, Burlington and Quincy; the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific (the Milwaukee Road); and Illinois Central. For nearly a century, these four roads--all of them esteemed Midwestern railroads--carried the bulk of freight and passengers arriving and departing Rockford, Davis Junction, and Loves Park by rail. Two other smaller railways, the Chicago, Milwaukee and Gary and the Rockford and Interurban, also played a part in Rockford's railroad history and are spotlighted in this volume.

Rockford Area Railroads

History

Schafer, Professor Mike

Americas

Arcadia Publishing Library Editions

With today's America dominated by the automobile, it is difficult to believe that until the 1920s nearly 100 percent of the US population traveled via rail. Conventional passenger-train service spread rapidly by the 1850s, but another form of rail transportation did not emerge until the turn of the 20th century: the interurban. Almost always electric, interurbans linked cities with burghs. Rockford, one of Illinois's three largest urban centers during the 20th century, enjoyed a system appropriately named the Rockford & Interurban, dating from the city's horse-drawn streetcars of the 1880s. By World War I, the Rockford & Interurban ran from downtown Rockford to Cherry Valley and Belvidere; Winnebago, Pecatonica, and Freeport; Roscoe and Rockton; and Beloit and Janesville, Wisconsin. The Rockford & Interurban enjoyed a supernova of success, rising quickly in popularity before slowly dying when the automobile became widespread in the 1920s; the Great Depression finished the job in 1936.

Rockford & Interurban Railway

Arts & Photography

Landis, Brian

Photography & Video

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