- Business - Janesville Sesquicentennial
-
- [Photograph; caption reads: Train rumbles across C. M. &
St. Paul bridge in Janesville in the early 1900s.]
-
- Janesville was among the state's first train cities
- Rails and railroad equipment arrived in Janesville in 1853,
making it one of the first cities in the
- state to be served by trains.
- Residents began discussing the possibility of a rail connection
to Chicago in 1847. A mass meeting
- was held in November that year to discuss participation in
building a railroad to Chicago.
- Early in 1849, another large public meeting was called in
an attempt to interest the citizens in the
- Madison and Beloit Railway Co., which had been incorporated
at the first session of the Legislature in 1848.
- Surveys of possible routes for a railroad to be called the
Rock River Valley Railroad were begun
- on Aug. 17, 1849, under the direction of Col. Hugh LEE
and A. T. GREY.
- Ground was broken July 10, 1851, for a railroad between Fond
du Lac and Chicago by the Rock
- River Valley Railway. A. Hyatt SMITH, president of
the line and first mayor of Janesville, presided over the ceremony
at Fond du Lac. Work began in Chicago at about the same time.
- The Southern Wisconsin Railway Co., which later became the
Milwaukee and Mississippi Railway,
- was organized at the STEVENS House in Janesville in
1852. The organizers began construction with the idea of extending
the line from here to the Mississippi River. The line ended,
however, in Monroe, which was reached in 1858.
- The Milwaukee and Mississippi line began operating in January
1853. On Jan. 5, the city
- celebrated with meetings and speeches.
- The first locomotive did not arrive here until Jan. 10. John
C. FOX was the engineer. FOX later
- became master mechanic for the Milwaukee Road after its merger
with the Milwaukee and Mississippi line.
- Two delegations, one from Galena, Ill., and one from Dubuque,
Iowa, arrived here in the summer
- of 1853. Each sought to have its city selected as the western
terminus for the Milwaukee and Mississippi line to the Mississippi
River.
- The teamster who drove the wagon from Galena registered at
the American Hotel as U. S. Grant
- and team. It is not known if he was the same Grant that later
became president.
- By 1857, the Milwaukee Road had a line as far northwest as
Prairie du Chien. By 1867, it had
- expanded north to St. Paul, which made a line from Galena
to St. Paul possible.
- The first depot and roundhouse in Janesville were built in
1853 near the HANSON furniture
- factory on the east side of the Rock River. When the line
expanded to the west in 1857, a larger round- house was built
on the west side of the river.
- The first passenger train arrived in the city in Sept. 15,
1856. It was a Chicago, St. Paul and Fond
- du Lac train, a company that was to become part of the Chicago
and North Western Railway Co.
- In 1880, the C&NW built a line from Janesville to Afton
to create a better connection to Madison.
- The same year, the Milwaukee Road built a better track from
Janesville to Beloit to provide another outlet to Chicago, Racine
and western Illinois.
- Janesville residents gave $7,000 to the C&NW and $10,000
to the Milwaukee Road to assist in
- building the line. The track was deeded to the North Western
in May 1887.
- In 1885, work was begun on a track from Janesville to Evansville
by the Janesville and Evansville
- Railway Co., which was organized for that purpose. Two years
later the track was deeded to the C&NW.
- The city of Janesville contributed $40,000 in the project.
The Evansville cutoff, as the line became
- known, shortened the distance from Chicago to St. Paul, and
as a result the C&NW transferred much of its traffic to the
new line.
- By 1880, the city had about 80 trains passing through daily
because of the Evansville cutoff.
- Janesville gained a new rail outlet to Chicago in 1901 when
the Milwaukee Road built a line [from]
- Janesville to Schlessingerville, Ill., and connected it to
its main line. The outlet reduced the distance to Chicago to
91 miles, about the same distance as the North Western line.
- The Milwaukee Road built new freight yards at about this
time at the western limits of the city. The
- Milwaukee Road roundhouse was enlarged in 1905.
- An interurban line between Janesville and Rockford was running
by 1902. The line was built by the
- Rockford, Beloit and Janesville Co. Connections eventually
reached Chicago and Freeport, Ill. The system died within 30
years because of the emergence of the automobile.
- The C&NW built a new passenger depot in 1898, and the
Milwaukee Road constructed one in
- 1902. Both depots were on Academy Street.
- The C&NW purchased 300 acres in south Janesville at a
cost of $100 per acre in 1907. More
- than 20 miles of sidings and a 36-stall roundhouse were built
on the site at a cost of about $500,000.
- The new facility made the construction of a new bridge across
the river necessary to accommodate
- a double track from the city to the yards.
- A brick freight house was built in 1930 by the Milwaukee
Road for $35,000. The house was just
- west of the Five Points. It was 60 by 130 feet and had a
300-foot platform at the rear with space for loading and unloading
22 cars. The old freight house, on North Main Street, was taken
over by the Rock County Farm Bureau for a warehouse.
- The Milwaukee Road and the C&NW both modernized their
roundhouses in 1930.
- Air-conditioned, streamlined coaches began to appear here
in 1934. The fastest trains between
- Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul, through Madison, began
to run on the C&NW line here in 1934. The new trains, called
the Viking Mountaineer, made the run in about an hour and 45
minutes, compared to the two hours previously required.
- Passenger service between Fond du Lac and Janesville ended
in 1950. Rail passenger service to
- Milwaukee was gone by the fall of 1954, and in 1971 rail
passenger service to Janesville ended.
- In 1976, the C&NW abandoned the line between Fort Atkinson
and Janesville.
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