RFRIC – The Lyons – Iowa Central Railroad.

When Iowa joined the Union in 1846, transportation in and around the Hawkeye State was very limited. Riverboats, of course, worked well in connecting the larger communities located on the Mississippi River, but for the good people of Iowa City, traveling outside of the capital city was limited to horseback, horse-drawn carriage, and stagecoach. Back east, the railroads were becoming quite abundant (see map below), but the closest train station to Iowa City was in Chicago.

Over a period of 120 years of Iowa City history (1850-1970) there have been five railway systems (see map below) that have attempted to bring passenger rail service into our community. One of those railroads was very short-lived, while others were here nearly that entire time.

This map – courtesy of historian Tom Schulien – shows the five passenger railway systems of Iowa City. **Brown** **– Lyons-Iowa Central RR – The Calico** (1850-1854) **Green** **– M&M / Rock Island RR** (1853-1974) **Blue – Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern RR – The Plug** (1873-1924), **Black** – **CRANDIC Interurban Railway** (1904-1953) and **Red** – **Iowa City Electric Railway** (1910-1930).

On this page, let’s take a deeper dive into the first (and shortest) railway system of Iowa City…

In 1850, investors in the Lyons – Iowa Central Railroad were given permission to buy a strip of land – one hundred feet wide – across the state of Iowa from Lyons (near Clinton) to Council Bluffs – a distance of about 300 miles. When completed, the railroad would connect Iowa City and points west to Chicago via Fulton, Illinois, a town opposite Lyons on the Mississippi River.

Records indicate that several investors from back east were able to raise nearly one million dollars with one businessman from Syracuse, New York – Henry P. Adams – becoming the face of the project. Adams traveled the state of Iowa, raising expectations and securing local investments, and as you can see from the February 14, 1853 business report (below), the good people of Johnson County invested $50,000!

By February, 1854, nearly five hundred men were at work on the Lyons-Iowa Central line and it was promised that there would be many more employed in the spring of that year. At a huge fund-raising banquet, Adams proudly proclaimed that the first seventy-five miles of the line – from Lyons into Iowa City – would be completed by the first of April, 1855. He also projected that the second leg of the project, which extended west to Fort Des Moines, would be graded as soon as money was subscribed by the people, or the counties, along the way. In Iowa City (see map below), the work of clearing land and preparing the track bed was nearing completion.

**This 1854 Map of Iowa City shows the “proposed” route of the Lyons-Iowa Central RR in Iowa City.**

Suddenly, in June of 1854, all work on the railroad came to screeching halt – as it was announced that the company had run out of funds. Apparently, Adams had secretly pocketed a lot of money, leaving employees scrambling for back pay. The Lyons-Iowa Central quickly went belly-up, and with no cash available, the employees were left with payment of back wages via a supply of groceries, dry-goods, and reams of calico – thus the name – The Calico Railroad.

Iowa historian, Ruth Irish Preston tells us more…

Today, in Iowa City, traces of the Calico Railroad’s track bed can still be found on the city’s north side – particularly near St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

Riding The Five Rails Of Iowa City – An Introduction
The Lyons-Iowa Central RR – The Calico (1850-1854)
The Mississippi & Missouri (M&M) / Rock Island (CRI&P) RR (1853-1974)
The Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern (BCR&N) RR – The Plug (1873-1924)
The Cedar Rapids & Iowa City (CRANDIC) Interurban Railway (1904-1953).
The CRANDIC Interurban Railway Trolley Picture Page
The Iowa City Electric Railway (1910-1930)

Gone – but never forgotten!