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Biography/History:
The Illinois Central Railroad Company was chartered in the state of Illinois on February 10, 1851. Its purpose was to build a rail line in Illinois connecting Cairo, located at the fork of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and Galena, located at the extreme northwestern corner of the state. The company completed additional rail lines between Centralia, Illinois, and Dubuque, Iowa, on September 27, 1856.
In March of 1872, Illinois Central president William H. Osborn sought financing for the acquisition of the Central Mississippi and the New Orleans, Jackson, and Northern railroads. The board of directors subsequently approved Osborn’s plan, and the Illinois Central acquired these two southern railways, later merging them to form the Chicago, St. Louis, and New Orleans Railroad, which was chartered on November 17, 1877. Its new name reflected the direct access to the South that the Illinois Central had achieved through the merger. The Illinois Central signed a four-hundred-year lease with the Chicago, St. Louis, and New Orleans Railroad on June 13, 1882. The Illinois Central officially established itself south of the Ohio River when the lease went into effect on July 1, 1882.
The Omaha Bridge and Terminal Railway Company was incorporated in Nebraska on November 28, 1890. The railroad officially opened for business in January of 1894. The Illinois Central later leased the railroad from July 1, 1911, until August 1, 1951. Samuel T. Brush organized the St. Louis and Big Muddy Coal Company in 1890. Located in Dewmaine, Illinois, the railroad was acquired by the Madison Coal Corporation, a subsidiary of the Illinois Central.
The Alabama and Vicksburg Railway Company had its origins in the Vicksburg and Jackson and the Southern Mississippi railroads. The Vicksburg and Jackson and the Southern Mississippi railroads were consolidated in 1856 as the Vicksburg and Meridian Railroad. The railroad continued to operate under this name until it was foreclosed upon and sold on February 4, 1889. The Sterling Trust, Limited, of London, England, through its subsidiary, the Alabama, New Orleans, Texas, and Pacific Junction Railways Company, Limited, bought the Vicksburg and Meridian Railroad. The railroad was incorporated as the Vicksburg and Alabama Railway Company on March 18, 1889. The Sterling Trust, Limited, continued to operate the railway until 1926 when the Illinois Central Railroad, through its subsidiary, the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad, leased the railway for 365 years. The Illinois Central Railroad began to abandon small sections of track controlled by the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad in 1935, and this continued until 1978. The Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, formed in 1972 by the merger of the Illinois Central and Gulf, Mobile, and Ohio railroads, continued to operate sections of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad until 1999. The Illinois Central Railroad merged with the Canadian National Railway in late 1999.
Scope and Content:
This collection consists of various railroad company records, securities, a trip diary, scrapbooks, and a map that were assembled and partially annotated by R. R. Tippy. All of these items pertain to the Illinois Central or its subsidiaries, including the Alabama and Vicksburg, Chicago, St. Louis, and New Orleans, Omaha Bridge and Terminal, St. Louis and Big Muddy Coal, and Yazoo and Mississippi Valley railroad companies.
The railroad company records include correspondence, business reports, comparative accounting statements, and handwritten and typewritten copies of legal agreements. Most of these records consist of blueprint photocopies of letters and documents dating from 1851 to 1856, which were acquired from the Illinois Central archives at the Newberry Library in Chicago. The correspondence of various corporate officers concerns the daily operations of the Illinois Central. The business reports were submitted to Illinois Central chairman William Osborn by Illinois Central president John M. Douglas in October of 1867. Illinois Central employees produced a variety of comparative accounting statements, including those for supplies on hand (1874-1877), work-force compensation (1875-1876), earnings and expenses (1878-1879), and earnings and operations (1879).
There is an 1882 minute book of the board of directors of the Chicago, St. Louis, and New Orleans Railroad Company and a handwritten copy of the January 1859 minutes of a board of directors meeting of the Illinois Central Railroad Company.
The railroad company securities include stock certificates and coupons and corporate scrip dating from 1853 to 1907. Examples from the Alabama and Vicksburg, Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans, Illinois Central, Omaha Bridge and Terminal, and St. Louis and Big Muddy Coal railroad companies are present. There are also lists of railroad company stockholders.
In the trip diary an anonymous railroad engineer, who may have worked for the Illinois Central, comments on North-South train routes and various trains on which he was working in 1893. Clippings concerning Illinois Central and Yazoo and Mississippi Valley train routes and events are also included.
There are two anonymously created railroad scrapbooks. The first contains clippings from several New Orleans-area newspapers concerning activities of the Illinois Central from 1895 to 1898. The second contains clippings from several Chicago-area newspapers concerning activities of the Illinois Central from 1900 to 1907. A turn-of-the-century map depicts Illinois Central rail lines.
Series Identification:
Box 1, folders 1-15
Box 3, folder 2Box 5, folder 2Box 1, folders 16-21
Box 4, folders 1-9 (restricted)Box 6, folders 1-5 (restricted)Box 3, folder 1
Box 2
Box 5, folder 1
Box List: