TP&W Prairie Creek Bridge (La Houge)

In 1857, the Logansport, Peoria & Burlington Railroad (LP&B) completed a new railroad line, extending from Lomax, Illinois to Peoria, Illinois, via Galesburg, Illinois.  The railroad completed east to Gilman the same year, and reached Logansport, Indiana in 1859.  Because the funding for the LP&B was primarily funded by the Central Military Tract Railroad, which became part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q); the Peoria to Lomax segment of the line was sold to the CB&Q in 1860 and quickly became part of the principal mainline for that railroad.  The name of the LP&B was changed to the Toledo, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad in 1864, and the railroad sought a renewed connection to the Mississippi River.  The following year, the TP&W purchased the Mississippi & Wabash Railroad in 1865, which had previously completed a branch line from Warsaw, Illinois to Carthage, Illinois.  Construction began on a new line, extending from Elvaston to Peoria.  The new route opened to traffic in 1869.  At the same time, the Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Company began construction of a combined railroad and roadway bridge across the Mississippi River, which would be completed in 1871.  A branch line from LaHarpe, Illinois to Lomax would be constructed the same year.  By 1880, the TP&W would be reorganized as the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway (TP&W); and leased by the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway.

The TP&W provided a crucial bridge connection between the eastern and western railroads, bypassing Chicago and other congested interchange points.  The Wabash lease of the railroad ended in 1887, and the railroad remained independent until 1893.  In 1893, the railroad was jointly leased by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the St. Louis, Keokuk & North Western Railway (CB&Q), although the CB&Q later relinquished their ownership.  In 1960, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) gained part ownership of the line, and gained full ownership in 1968 when the Pennsylvania Railroad was merged into Penn Central.  Portions of the line between Keokuk and LaHarpe were sold to the Keokuk Junction Railway (KJRY) in 1985.  The ATSF sold the line to investors in 1989, which returned the Topeldo, Peoria & Western Railway name to the line.  The KJRY purchased the tracks from LaHarpe to Lomax in 1990, and the line from Peoria to LaHarpe in 2005.  Today, TP&W continues to operate the line between Peoria and Logansport, while the KJRY operates the line west of Peoria.