Frisco Rail Fest
Rolling down the tracks to you, is our inaugural Frisco Rail Fest to be held Saturday June 15th on C-Street in the City Market (321 E Commercial Street). This event is sponsored by the C-Street Community Improvement District, Independent Printing, Sigwo Industries, and Bradley IT Services. This event is FREE! This program is to highlight the importance of the railroad to the development of North Springfield and the C-Street national Historic District! We will have several operating layouts, Steel Highways Rail Camera’s, Missouri Operation Lifesaver, and the Railway Historical Museum will all have exhibits in the City Market area. The Peddler Bicycle Museum will be open to show their exhibit of railroad bikes! The Ozark Model Railroad Association (OMRA) Club Layout will also be open and operating. Win a operating session and pizza party for six of your friends or tickets to the OMRA train show!
The Railroad Comes to St. Joseph: February 14, 1859
According to newspaper reports from the time, the first train to arrive in St. Joseph made its inaugural run today on the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad on this date in 1859. Timetables listed in the paper said that the journey would take 12 hours (today it would be closer to 3 by car).
The railroad received land grants to help complete its route. Before the Civil War these two cities were Missouri the second and third largest in the state, and this train is alleged to have carried the first letter for delivery by Pony Express in 1860. Eventually overland stage routes took over carrying mail from the Pony Express, and onboard mail sorting became a part of the duties of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, in order to cut down on connection times from train to stagecoach. At the time it was completed, this railroad was the farthest west any train in the US traveled.
From the rail line’s inception the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad would use these tracks for through traffic running to and from Chicago, and eventually the company acquired the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad outright. In the 1980s service was discontinued on the tracks from Brookfield onto St. Joseph, but here and there segments of track that formed the original route remain in use for BNSF, who took over ownership after a merger.
Missouri History Today December 27, 1893: Bellefontaine Bluffs Railroad Bridge Passes Key Test
Engineers successfully test the functionality of a four-span truss bridge at Bellefontaine Bluffs over the Missouri River, according to a history published online by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The railroad bridge is important because it linked St. Charles and St. Louis counties. This image shows a sign on the side of a railroad car for the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad – the same railroad for which the Bellefontaine Bluffs bridge had been built.
Photo credit: Jack Delano. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017849218/
Missouri History Today November 26, 1908: Mexico Celebrates Electric Railroad Dream
An electric railroad system planned in Mexico receives enthusiastic support as described on the front page of the Mexico Missouri Message newspaper. At a meeting held the previous week, wrote the editors, local businessmen elected C.F. Clark chair of a committee to explore the opportunity. Clark crowed, “Nothing that could come to Mexico would do the town as much good as this great railway system and if Mexico is successful it will be the center of operation, would be in command of the situation, and would be of lasting benefit.” This 1910 photo shows girls arriving for work at 6:30 a.m. at Friedman Shelby Shoe Company in Mexico.
Photo credit: Hine, L. W., photographer. (1910) Young girls going to work in Friedman Shelby Shoe Company, 6:30 A.M.Location: Mexico, Missouri. United States Missouri Mexico, 1910. October. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2018676109/.
Missouri History Today September 24, 1987: Consultant Revives State’s Fast-Track Dreams
A consultant gets to work analyzing a possible high-speed railroad between Kansas City and St. Louis. To date, multiple attempts at getting traction on such transportation infrastructure have been unsuccessful.
Photo credit: Vachon, John, photographer. Railroad bridge, St. Charles County, Missouri. May. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2017720129/.
Plans for St. Louis Zoo Railroad
On January 27, 1963, plans were made for a miniature railroad in the St. Louis Zoo.
This post was contributed by Ross Malone. A historian and a retired school teacher, Ross has authored many books about Missouri’s history, weird facts, and folk tales. He has also written children’s historical fiction. Visit his website, and buy his books in the Missouri Life store.
Image from Flickr by Thomas Hawk licensed under CC 2.0
April 21, 1870
The first train from St. Louis reached Springfield. This took sixteen years of construction because of the interruptions due to the Civil War.
This post was contributed by Ross Malone. A historian and a retired school teacher, Ross has authored many books about Missouri’s history, weird facts, and folk tales. He has also written children’s historical fiction. Visit his website, and buy his books in the Missouri Life store.
December 8, 1881
A railroad bridge across the Missouri at St. Charles collapsed for the third time! Thirty one freight cars plunged into the river. It was also proving to be a hazard for steamboats. Editor's note: the image above depicts a collapse on the same bridge that occurred two years prior.
This post was contributed by Ross Malone. A historian and a retired school teacher, Ross has authored many books about Missouri’s history, weird facts, and folk tales. He has also written children’s historical fiction. Visit his website, and buy his books in the Missouri Life store.
November 12, 1852
The first railroad locomotive to operate west of the Mississippi (named the Pacific) made its very first run on this day. It went four miles west from St. Louis to the Manchester Road.
This post was contributed by Ross Malone. A historian and a retired school teacher, Ross has authored many books about Missouri’s history, weird facts, and folk tales. He has also written children’s historical fiction. Visit his website, and buy his books in the Missouri Life store.