Illinois River Railroad

These railroad tracks along Third Street run along the same rail bed of the railroad company that Abraham Lincoln defended in court even as rails were being laid down. This was the 1857 case of Charles Sprague v. The Illinois River Railroad Company, et. al., which was filed and argued in Cass County Circuit Court, because the suit involved a dispute over whether or not Cass County should issue bonds to the company to help pay for the extension of the railroad there. Lincoln partnered with H. E. Dummer on this case, and they successfully defended the railroad company aginst Sprague's lawsuit.

It was on 11 Feb. 1853 that the Illinois River Railroad Co. was chartered. In October 1856, the city of Pekin voted to give $100,000 to the company, and the railroad finally was opened on 4 July 1859, a whole decade after Pekin’s incorporation as a city and more than 20 years after the first attempts to build a railroad in Pekin. This is how “Pekin Centenary 1849-1949” tells the story:

“In 1858, Bitzer’s lake was drained to make right-of-way for the new Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville railroad (later the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis, and today the Chicago and Illinois Midland). The depot was built up on piling where Bitzer’s lake had been, and much of the track there was trestle. The 16-foot ravine cutting across the river front area was filled, and the bridge over it destroyed. . . . The biggest day in that particular era came on July 4, 1859, when the first train finally pulled into Pekin on the new railroad tracks in the midst of a city-wide celebration complete with flags, bands, and a parade.”

The Illinois River Railroad Co. became the Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville Railroad in 1863.

The picture illustrating this site (taken about 1868 by George Bacon) shows the old Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville Railroad depot, which was built in or around 1859, and stood at the southeast corner of Third and St. Mary streets, now the location of the parking lot behind the Tazewell County Justice Center.