The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-02-17
RAILROAD FACILITIES OF MEMPHIS MAKE CITY
REAL LOBBING CENTER FOR ALL LINES OF TRADE.

~
ocean, which was poured with ceremony
into the Mississippi river.
The Memphis & Charleston railroad
was taken over in 1898 by the South
ern railway. Thus the first actual ef-
fort, Of Memphis citizens evolved IT.
self into a part Of a great railroad sys-
tenn.
From 1886 to 1852 the line Of the
Mississippi e. Tennessee railroad from
Memphis to Grenada. Miss, was built.
This line was destined to become a
link in the great Illinois Central rail-
road system.
In 1888 the Memphis & OHIO rail-
road was started, and two years later
the first section was completed. Years
later this line was absorbed by the
Louisville & Nashville railroad.
Many railroad lines were projected in
the late fifties, but war clouds were
gathering and it developed that rail
road construction and expansion was
checked pntil the late sixties.
In 1870 the Kansas City, Memphis
& Birmingham, now a part OF the
Frisco lines, was pushed 40 miles south
to Holly Springs, Miss. The Northern
line was not destined to come into
being for - years.
railroad had been projected for many
years, construction work was not be-
gun until 1871. This road became later
the Choctaw & Memphis, and then the
Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf, before Il
was taken over In 1890 by the ROCK
Island.
Railroad development out Of Mem
phis began in earnest in the eighties.
In 1880 that noted railroad builder, Q.
p. Huntington, began the construction
of the Memphis, Paducah & Northern
railroad from Memphis to Louisville.
/ This limo hppama known later as the
Chesapeake, Ohio & Southwestern, and
later as the Newport News Il Missls-
sippi Valley, before it was taken oVer
by the Illinois Central.
In 1882 the Kansas City, Springfield
& Memphis railroad was built in con-
junction with its sister line the KAN
sas City, Fl. Scott & Memphis, both Of
which are included in the Frisco sys-
TEN. For many years the line from
Kansas City had no entrance into Mem
phis and freight and passengers were
ferried across the river.
The need of a through line to the
South was felt at that period, and Mr..
Huntington and r, Il. Wilson set about
Lin 1884 to build the Louisville, New
Yorleans & Texas railroad from Memphis
to New orleans. This road later be-
came the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley
railroad.
In 1886 the st. Louis, Iron Mountain
e Southern railway extended its lines
from Bald Knob, Ark, into Memphis.
This road also was compelled to trans
port passengers and freight across the
Two years later, 1888, the Nashville,
Chattanooga & st. Louis railroad took
over the tracks of the old Tennessee
Midland and entered the city of Mem
phis.
Of the most important of all railroad
| daNyalOnDna ntC-thn T1lntiOn Of a
bridge across the Mississippi river, now
owned by the Frisco lines. This bridge
was completed in 1892, after three n
a half years Of continuous work. Fully
| 25, 900 persons came to Memphis on May
IL, 1892, to witness the ceremonies which
steel structure.
The last of the p~resent-day railroads
to enter Memphis was the st Louis
Southwestern (the Cotton Belt), which
began operating trains into this city IN
1894, using the Iron Mountain tracks
from Fair Oaks, Ark. j,
Although no new lines Of railroad
have come into thes' city since 1924,
the development of railroad properties
and facilities never has halted for o
moment. Year, after year there has
been steady improvement.
great steel bridges across the Missis-
sippi river at this city firmly estab-
lished Memphis as the great Southern
gateway from East to West.
The Frisco bridge RAJ built a quar-
ter Of a century g and the j. 7;
opened to. traffic in July, 1915.
The Harahan bridge is a double-track
structure and was built when rail traf-
fic. grew to such proportions thai the
Frisco bridge proved entirely inadequate
to handle the numerous freight ana pas.
-.--~. &untrC HroVNN q a Of TN Wnaf ana
west to east.
J.. T.. Harahan, late lamented presi-
dent of the Illinois Central railroad, was
the first to see the need of greater
bridge facilities at Memphis. His ad..
vocacy of the new structure resulted
in it's actual construction, and the
bridge bears his name for that reason.
The Harahan bridge was built by the
Arkansas & Memphis Bridge and Ter.
minal company, and its cost was shared
about equally by the Missouri Paciftc,
the Rock Island and the St Louis
h bridge proper cost SO, 900, 900, but
the purchase of bridge terminals, etc.
increased the cost to $4,000, 600 or more;
In 1911 the Rock Island, which had
been a prime mover in the bridge
project, asked congress for permission
to erect a new bridge at Memphis. A
long delay resulted while congress and
the war department were threshing out
the problem. Meanwhile , the Rock
Island acquired all of the ldhd it need
ed for Tennessee terminals Of the bridge
in South Memphis,
The three railroads preferred to make
the new bridge strictly a railway struc-
ture, but the Memphis Chamber OF Com
merce and the citizens of Eastern Ar
kansas insisted tina wagonways should
be Included to connect Memphis and
the fertile alluvial lands of Arkansas
To this the railroads finally agreed.
In 1918 charters for the new bridge
We're granted by the state governments
of Tennessee and Arkansas, and the
roads paid $50, 900 for a franchise from
the city of Memphis for the right to
| oIoca narfnip ctrnats and to SDan others.