Quincy and Chicago Railroad

State: Illinois

In 1849 the Illinois General Assembly incorporated the Northern Cross Railroad Company, which was distinct from an earlier railroad of the same name. Two years later, the General Assembly authorized the Northern Cross Railroad Company to locate and construct a lateral branch, which would originate in a point on the railroad’s line in Adams County, pass through the Military Bounty Lands, and end at a point on or near the southern termination of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. In 1852 this plan for a lateral line was modified to become part of a initiative to construct a line from Chicago to Burlington and Quincy, and the Northern Cross Railroad was authorized by the General Assembly to terminate their line at any point from which they could connect to a line of any other railroad which would run north to Chicago. The Northern Cross Railroad began entering into building contracts late in 1853, and a line between Quincy and Galesburg was completed and began operating at the end of January 1856. In 1857 the Northern Cross Railroad Company was renamed the Quincy and Chicago Railroad Company. Two months after the railroad took the name of Quincy and Chicago Railroad, it entered into an agreement with the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad to operate their lines under a common superintendent, and Charles G. Hammond was appointed to this position in May 1857. The Quincy and Chicago Railroad was purchased at foreclosure by the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad in 1864.

W. W. Baldwin, comp., Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Documentary History ([Chicago: R. R. Donnelly & Sons, 1928]), 1:554-632; A. W. Newton, “Northern Cross Railroad,” The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin 81 (October 1950), 23-28; Chas. E. Fisher, “The Northern Cross R. R.,” The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin 84 (October 1951), 58, 60; “An Act Supplemental to an Act Entitled ‘An Act to Incorporate the Northern Cross Railroad Company,’ Approved February Tenth, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-Nine,” 1 February 1851, Private Laws of Illinois (1851), 42-43; “An Act to Change the Name and Amend the Charter of the Northern Cross Railroad Company,” 10 February 1857, Private Laws of Illinois (1857), 373-74.