Share of the Evansville and Crawfordsville Rail Road Company, issued 14 May 1856
TheEvansville andCrawfordsville Railroad Company (E&CR) wasEvansville, Indiana's first railroad company.It had a 160 miles (260 km) long railway that connected those two places.[1]It was renamedEvansville and Terre Haute Railroad in 1877.[citation needed] It went on to be consolidated with other railroads of the region into theChicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad.[2]
The railroad was originally chartered by an Act of the Indiana legislature on 1849-01-02 as theEvansville and Illinois Railroad Company (E&IR) to connect Evansville with theOhio & Mississippi Railroad atOlney, Illinois viaPrinceton.[1]This was amended on 1850-01-21 to extend the railway from Princeton toVincennes instead, and to remove the authorisation to build toMt Carmel, Illinois.[1][3]A separateWabash Railroad Company had been chartered to build a railroad from Vincennes to Crawfordsville,[3] but it was merged into the E&IR on 1852-11-08, and the company name was changed by Act of the state legislature, authorising the merger, to finally become just the E&CR on 1853-03-04.[1][4]
Section 1 of the railroad was the 51 miles (82 km) route from Evansville to Vincennes, built at an accumulated cost ofUS$847,191 (equivalent to $29,648,547 in 2024) as reported in 1854 by its president Samuel Hall.[1][3]Section 2 of the railroad then went from Vincennes toTerre Haute, a route of 58 miles (93 km).[1]Section 3 of the railroad then extended from Terre Haute toRockville, and Crawfordsville, for a further 51 miles (82 km).[5][1]
Section 2, from Vincennes to Terre Haute, was built under William D. Griswold andChauncey Rose,[6] was opened to through traffic on November 23, 1853,[7] and completed in 1854.[8]Rose donated his stock in theTerre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad to the Evansville and Crawfordsville to finance its construction.[9]
Section 3 was built under the presidency of John Ingle Jr (for more on whom seeInglefield, Indiana).[6]In 1854 there was a plan to proceed onwards past Crawfordsville toFort Wayne.[1]The Rockville to Crawfordsville section was extended under a 1869-06-02 charter as theEvansville, Terre Haute, and Chicago Railroad Company, to extend to a total distance from Rockville of 55 miles (89 km) toDanville, Illinois, under the presidency of Josephus Collett.[6]This was completed by 1872.[6]
"C&EI Railroad History". Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Historical Society. 27 August 2024. Retrieved2025-03-05.
Esarey, Logan; Rabb Milner, Kate; Herschell, William (1924).History of Indiana from Its Exploration to 1922. Vol. 2. Dayton, OH: Dayton Historical Publishing Co.
Hartwell, Will (1913).History of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad Company to June 30, 1913. Chicago: Legare Street Press.
Baldwin, Thomas; Thomas, Joseph (1854).A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo & Company.
Hall, Samuel (1854-10-07). Poor, Henry V. (ed.). "Evansville and Crawfordsville R.R.".American Railroad Journal. Vol. 10, no. 40. J. H. Schultz. pp. 628–629.
Edwards, W. K. (1872). "Railroads—completed and prospective". In Ingalls & Company (ed.).The Advantages and Attractions of Terre Haute, Indiana. Terre Haute, Indiana: Daily Evening Gazette Book and Job Rooms.
Railroads initalics meet the revenue specifications for Class I status, but are not technically Class I railroads due to being passenger-only railroads with no freight component.
