Fairfield Railroad History
WARE, CRAINE, GREEN, ONEILL
Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 9/4/2008 at 14:12:47
"The Fairfield Ledger", Wednesday, August 27, 2008, Page 3
Trains came to Fairfield 150 years ago, added commerce
by Verda Baird
(Reproduced here with her kind permission)It has been 150 years ago since the Burlington Missouri River Railroad finished laying the tracks as far west as Fairfield. This is the same railroad which most of us knew as the "Q" or "CB & Q," now the BNSF.
It was a great day for the residents of the community. A railroad was first talked about in 1851 and incorporated by a group of Burlington men in 1852. Grading for the right-of-way began in 1854 and the line reached Mount Pleasant in 1856, Rome in 1857 and Fairfield in August of 1858. It was completed in Ottumwa in September of 1859. The Civil War halted the construction for four years, and in 1864 the task was taken up again and by mid-winter of 1869, the trains had reached the Missouri river. A dozen years later the Burlington had reached the Rocky Mountains. This information was obtained from a March 1952 newspaper.
A look back at the Aug. 26, 1858, paper was the announcement that "next Wednesday, the first train of cars will arrive in our city. We trust that everyone will participate. A free ride to Burlington will be rendered to the citizens. Let us celebrate the event in a manner worthy of the occasion. All people of Jefferson County and citizens of Des Moines, Henry and Wapello counties and all other interested are invited to be at Fairfield 11 o'clock AM, Wednesday Sept 1st, 1858 to witness the arrival of the first train and take part in the celebration of that auspicious event. On this happy result of seven years labor, the people of Jefferson County may well meet together to rejoice and welcome our friends from abroad who have done so much to bring Fairfield within an easy three hours ride of Burlington. After considerable discussion, it was resolved to prepare a public dinner in the square. On motion it was resolved that the Fairfield Brass Band be requested to participate and assist in the celebration. Meeting the cars on the day of celebration at Mount Pleasant were Doctor J. C. WARE, George CRAINE and G. H. GREEN."
Now for more highlights of the gala event: a reference was made in the Sept. 2, 1858, newspaper headlines: "Opening of the Railroad! 8 Thousand People Assembled" The article read, "At an early hour, the streets were thronged by friends from the surrounding country. In the park, a table had been prepared stretching around the entire enclosure - nine hundred feet - and this table was loaded with all the good things, which our ladies know so well how to prepare. Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon the ladies for the manner in which everything was prepared. At the hour of sunrise, the cannon was fired, which continued every half hour until 10 o'clock when it was fired every ten minutes until the cars arrived. At the hour of 11, a train of 17 cars arrived, filled with military and fire companies and citizens from Burlington and Mount Pleasant. During the day, the military companies fired a number of salutes in the park which enlivened the proceedings and astonished our staid and sober city, which never before was saluted by the discharge of so great a number of firearms on one day. At 12 o'clock the regular train arrived bringing several hundred passengers in time to join in the proceeding of the day."
Part of the address that day was as follows: "This day is to Fairfield and Jefferson County the ushering in of a new era. This day completes the work that binds us to the Eastern World by these strong bands of iron, over which the fire-snorting steed of commerce and civilization will henceforth careen on its course of beneficent duty, scattering in our midst the rich blessings and comforts of life. Henceforth, plank roads, mud roads, lumber wagons, ox carts and even the once welcomed stage coach are to be numbered with the things that were. We rural citizens on this hitherto out-of-the-way place are to be no longer strangers to our eastern brethren..." This is a portion of the long speech.
Let us jump ahead with other details. The first Chicago Southwestern Railroad train reached Fairfield in 1871 and by 1881 was referred to as the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific, and they erected a new depot. In 1912, floor plans for the CB and W passenger depot were published in the Jefferson County Republican paper. It was in September of 1934 when the CB & Q underpass on North Second Street was opened for traffic, and the Rock Island underpass on Highway 34 was opened in October of 1938. A derailment on the Rock Island caused cars to fall into the Highway 34 underpass in August of 1973. In September of 1984, the underpass was town down (sic).
On March 23, 1970, the famed California Zephyr made its final run through Fairfield with no passengers getting on or off. There were nine cars on the run, which originated in Oakland, Calif., with a destination of Chicago. It was a year later in May of 1971 that Amtrak made its final stop in Fairfield requiring passengers to board in either Mount Pleasant or Ottumwa.
After researching genealogy items most of the last 32 years, I have mailed obituaries of residents killed by trains. In January of 1879, a 21-year-old man from Lockridge was found dead after being killed in the night on the tracks. His obituary was in the paper, but he has no gravestone. Most tragic was the death of John and Anna O'NEILL as they were hurriedly walking home from St. Mary's Church services. Their gravestones record it as 1922, but the event actually ran in the October 1921 newspaper.
On the shelves of the Fairfield Public Library is the coroner's docket covering 227 deaths from 1899 to 1934. In scanning through them, 38 were deaths by trains, three of the deaths were employees of the railroad and three were unidentified men.
Railroads brought prosperity to our community. It is sad that Fairfield has no 2008 celebration planned. Little did anyone realize that June 17, 2008, flooding on the Mississippi would close the rail traffic through Fairfield for several weeks -- 150 years after it had begun.
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Flyers such as the one below were displayed when the railroad first opened through Fairfield in 1858.
Jefferson Documents maintained by Joey Stark.
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