At the same time, the railroad continued to build southwest, towards Jacksonville.
In addition, the Jacksonville, Alton and St. Louis Railroad began building 60 more miles from Jacksonville to Godfrey, a point near Alton.
In 1862, the St. Louis, Jacksonville and Chicago Railroad took hold of both railroad companies, and completed the line.
This railroad became part of the Chicago & Alton Railroad by 1899. It served as a branch line, connecting to the mainline on both ends.
With a failing traffic base, the Chicago & Alton was purchased by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1931. It was reorganized as the Alton Railroad.
By 1947, the railroad was failing again and was purchased by the Gulf, Mobile & Northern Railroad, which renamed the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad.
This continued to operate until 1972, when it was merged with Illinois Central Railroad, to form Illinois Central Gulf.
By 1978, the line began to fall. Interstate Highway 55 replaced the general routing, and the route was removed from Jacksonville to Bloomington by 1980.
By 1987, the ICG was purging excess lines; and sold the remaining portion to the Chicago, Missouri & Western Railway.
This railroad failed in 1989, becoming part of the Gateway Western Railway. By 1997 became a part of the Kansas City Southern, the current owners of this line.
08/26/21
This massive arch bridge crosses Piasa Creek parallel to US-67 between Godfrey and Delhi.
Ever since it was completed, the bridge has had structural issues. It was built unstably in 1881.
In 1904 and 1911, rehabilitation was done to stabilize the bridge. By 1918, the railroad decided to encase the bridge in concrete to prevent further damage to the structure.
General plans of the bridge
The rehabilitation worked, and has continued to preserve the bridge for generations. It is not currently know why the arches were not structurally sound.
Despite this, the bridge contains five identical arches. These arches are considerably higher than other structures.
The author has ranked this bridge as moderately significant, due to the historic age and early alterations.
The photo above is an overview. More photos of this bridge are hoped for the future.