Return to Centennial History Index Illiopolis Business
Association ILLIOPOLIS AND THE WABASH RAILROAD This is a 1901
Decatur Herald and Review Photo of a Wabash train that probably
passed through Illiopolis. Joseph Duncan, in 1834, succeeded in
forcing approval of a steam engine railroad to be built between
Quincy, on the Mississippi River, via Clayton, Mt. Sterling,
Meredosia, Jacksonville, Springfield, and Decatur to Danville
and the Illinois-Indiana State Line and the new railroad was to
be built with This new railroad was known as the "Northern
Cross," a name chosen according to some historians, because of
the line surveyed for the railroad closely paralleled a well-
known trail known as the "Northern Crossing" of Illinois and
often called "Northern Cross" although it was actually in the
south central part of the state. It was the only segment of the
ambitious Internal Improvement Act to become a reality. In 1842
a line between Jacksonville and Springfield was completed, and
in May 1842, service from Mered