In 1851 the Illinois legislature chartered the Terre Haute & Alton Railroad Company, and
construction began the following year. The first train transporting passengers to Indianapolis
departed 14 Feb 1852. The first railroad bridge was built over the Wabash River in 1855. In 1856
the main line from Terre Haute (Indiana) to Alton (Illinois) was completed. And in 1856 the railroad
secured authority to construct an extension from Illinoistown (now East St. Louis) to Alton, thus
providing the first railroad connection between Alton and St. Louis, Missouri. In financial distress by
1862, the railroad was sold under foreclosure and was reorganized as the St. Louis, Alton and
Terre Haute Railroad. And which later became the Terre Haute & Indianapolis, and later still the
Indianapolis & St Louis Railroad Co which was ultimately absorbed by the "Big Four".
Sources: Indiana Memory, hosted digital collections and Paul Selby, Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of
Sangamon County, Vol. II (Chicago: Munsell Publishing Company, 1912), 499.