Iowa City – Here Comes The Railroad!

**Railroad Arrives – 1856** – *an oil painting by Iowa City artist **Mildred Pelzer** (1934). Click here to read more about Mildred Pelzer’s amazing mural.*

Back in 1838, when Iowa first became a Territory and Iowa City was just a glimmer in Chauncey Swan’s eye, there were dreamers, like John Plumbe, Jr. of Dubuque, who envisioned the day when the West would be connected with the rest of the world through the work of the Iron Horse. Author Mildred Sharp, in her 1922 article, The M. and M. Railroad, describes it this way…

*Read more about another dreamer – Asa Whitney – who picked up in 1844 where John Plumbe, Jr. left off.*

By the early 1850’s, railroads back East were quite common, but if a person had a desire to venture further west than Illinois, the only options were by foot, horse or mule, stagecoach, or riverboat. As we discussed in an earlier post, roads were slow in developing across the Territory of Iowa, and even when we became a state in 1846, traveling from city to city was no easy thing.

**Stage Ready – 1855** – *an oil painting by Iowa City artist **Mildred Pelzer** (1934). Click here to read more about Mildred Pelzer’s amazing mural.*

The stage coach business was buzzing, but it’s understandable why the good people of the state’s capital, Iowa City, desperately wanted to bring the railroad to town. So, in the early 1850’s, a small railroad company that was first organized in Davenport in 1847 – The Mississippi & Missouri Railroad – came on the radar screen for those in Iowa City who wanted to see the iron horse come to Iowa’s capital city. Allow me here to give you some background…

In an 1848 report, U.S. Deputy General Surveyor, George B Sargent (above) records the October 25, 1847 beginnings of the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad (M&M). Four individuals – A.C. Fulton, Antoine Le Claire, G.C.R. Mitchell and James Grant were instrumental in bringing the M&M Railroad into existence. They were also actively involved in the expansion of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad (C&RI) in Illinois, and were key investors in the Rock Island Bridge Company – the builders of the first railroad bridge over the Mississippi River (1856).

While the M&M was being formed in Davenport (1848-1850), there were other investors around the state quickly forming other railroad companies (see above) – all hoping to be the first to lay tracks into Iowa, connecting with those railroads in Illinois that were building their lines quickly toward the Mississippi River. Read more here.

Over in Iowa City, in the fall of 1850, local businessmen such as LeGrand Byington, H.D. Downey, and others helped form The Davenport & Iowa City (D&IC) Railroad Company, sending word to the owners of the M&M Railroad in Davenport that the good people of Iowa City planned to cooperate with their efforts to bring the railroad into Iowa, and, by the way, we resolve that Iowa City be assigned your highest priority! As you can see from the report of September 5 (above), the M&M board “cordially” approved the Iowa City invitation, calling for surveying work to begin immediately! Read more here.

*The proposed route for Mississippi & Missouri Railroad to connect with Chicago & points further east.*

In 1852, the State of Iowa granted M&M permission to buy land across the Hawkeye State via Land Grant H.R.12 (see below). As it turned out, M&M had a very aggressive business plan – building in three directions – Route 1) West – from Davenport to Council Bluffs via Fort Des Moines; Route 2) South – from Muscatine to the Missouri border via Oskaloosa; and Route 3) North – from Muscatine to the Minnesota border via Cedar Rapids. Read more about the M&M’s other major competitor – the Lyons-Iowa Central Railroad.

As railroad fever began to spread across Iowa, the board of M&M in Davenport began soliciting additional funding from local communities by selling stock in the company (see below).

(L-0067) **Mississippi and Missouri Stock Certi*ficate***. *Stock in M&M began circulating as the railroad began to lay out their business plans.*

And, it’s at this point when the good folks of Iowa City and Muscatine began to squabble with each other – and with the M&M board – over why their city should be the first stop on M&M’s East-to-West route. Historian Mildred Sharp tells us more…

Iowa City vs. Muscatine! George Yewell‘s 1853 editorial cartoon stirred the pot! Click here to read more about George H. Yewell.

(L-0071) The State Legislature of Iowa was petitioned by the good people of Muscatine for the proposed M&M Railroad to pass through their fair city. This 3-page report (above), dated January 20, 1853, spells out the State Legislature’s resolution that was duly recorded in the U.S. Senate. It’s this move that brought the Iowa City contingent to push even harder to overcome this growing support for Muscatine.

All this competition finally came to a head in Chicago in May 1853, when two business men from Iowa City were sent to the C&RI Board Meetings, commissioned by our fair city to twist some arms while sweetening the deal just a bit. Which brings us to the story of Iowa City’s LeGrand Byington and William Penn Clarke and the $50,000 bonus – payable to M&M with two conditions – 1) Iowa City becomes M&M’s primary destination, and 2) M&M completes the 55-mile track into Iowa City on or before January 1, 1856! Read more here.

So, despite the strong opposition in Muscatine, and the fact that some politicians were favoring Muscatine, the M&M executives agreed to focus, first and foremost, on completing their first goal – Davenport to Iowa City – with a completion of the entire line to Council Bluffs by January 1, 1857!

By September 1853 – M&M – with plans now in hand – actually broke ground in Davenport (see below)…

*Read more about the Rock Island Bridge Company.*

An obvious point we must insert here. It would do little good for the citizens of Iowa to have a railroad, if it didn’t connect with the railway lines back east. That, of course, meant someone needed to overcome a huge obstacle called: The Mighty Mississippi River. For that story – click here.

Now, it’s one thing to lay railroad track in Iowa, but with no steam engines, the railroad will go no where! Since the bridge over the Mississippi River was still an event yet to come, in the summer of 1854, the first locomotive was ferried across the Mississippi River – from Rock Island to Davenport – The C&RI (Rock Island RR)’s Antoine Le Claire! So now, with an engine to pull the cars, let the railroad of Iowa actually begin!

**Railroad Arrives – 1856** – an oil painting by Iowa City artist Mildred Pelzer (1934). Notice **LeGrand Byington** (hand raised) and **Peter A. Dey** of Iowa City are depicted – cheering on the M&M workers. Click here to read more about Mildred Pelzer’s amazing mural.

Now, allow me to fast-forward one-and-a-half years to December 1855. If you recall, I mentioned that the Iowa City delegation had agreed to pay M&M an extra $50,000 if the 55-mile track from Davenport to Iowa City was completed on or before the contractual agreement date of New Year’s Day, 1856. While construction had been successful throughout the year, on Christmas Day 1855, the M&M still had two-and-a-half miles to go. As temperatures dropped, machinery froze and numbed the hands and feet of workers, greatly retarding the work. Historian Irving Weber picks up the story on New Year’s Eve 1855…

This is the bell of Mechanics Academy (1855-1897) – it’s very likely that this is one of those “church bells” that rung out on New Years Eve as the M&M train pulled into Iowa City! Click here to read more about the bells of Iowa City. Another report from The Palimpsest states…

Yet despite the many obstacles, the last rail was laid by the stroke of midnight, and yes, the $50,000 bonus to M&M was paid!

Two days later, on the afternoon of January 3rd, 1856, the first passenger train, pulled by the Oskaloosa, rolled into Iowa City. The booming of cannon announced its arrival. For years, the people of Iowa City had looked forward to this event. In celebration, they had prepared a feast for the visitors from Chicago, Rock Island, Davenport, and Muscatine; and although it was twenty below zero, visitors and townspeople joined in the Grand Railroad Festival in the Old Stone Capitol. Again, here’s Irving Weber to tell us more…

(L-0066a) Iowa City banker H.D. Downey and lawyer LeGrand Byington – organized this big January 3, 1856 Grand Railroad Festival, offering free tickets to any easterner who would ride the C&RI (Rock Island RR) from Chicago to Rock Island, ferry across the river, and then ride on the first M&M passenger train into Iowa City. And so, the Iron Horse era of Johnson County had begun. Over the next 100+ years, passenger and freight trains alike would pull into Iowa City, connecting us with the rest of the world.

The first M&M depot (1855-1898) was located at the south end of Johnson Street, four blocks to the east of the present Rock Island station. Click here to read more about the Iowa City depots. The Rock Island successfully operated in Iowa City into the 1970’s.

*In April 1856, the Iowa City newspapers celebrate the completion of the Mississippi River Bridge!*

Over the next four years (1856-1860), Iowa City became a busy, busy place – the end of the M&M line for railroad travelers wanting to head west. Look at the daily schedules in and out of Iowa City (below) from 1856-1858…

In 1859, construction began on the M&M bridge, crossing the Iowa River in Iowa City on a single-track deck truss, and opening in 1860. The bridge is pictured below (on the right) in the 1868 bird’s eye map of Iowa City. Read more about the bridges of Iowa City here.

Irving Weber tells us about what came next…

Train service finally reached Des Moines after the Civil War (1866). This was the same year, M&M ran out of steam financially, and was bought out by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad (C&RI) which stepped in, completing their Iowa route to Council Bluffs/Omaha by 1869. That, of course, was the same year the Union Pacific completed their part of the Transcontinental Railroad from Omaha to Utah Territory, while the Central Pacific met them there, coming east from Sacramento. Read more here.

In closing, here are just a few facts. In 1855, there were 3500 people living in Iowa City. Two years later, after the railroad came to town, the population more than doubled to over 8,000. In 1860, the state of Iowa had approximately 655 miles of track in operation and by 1870, that grew to over 2,600 miles. In 1900, that number grew to almost 9,200, finally peaking between 1911 and 1917 with more than 10,500 roadway miles of track.