Railroads were key to Rockford's rise as a thriving manufacturing and commercial center. With an area population of over 200,000 residents and a reputation for manufactured goods, Rockford had a criti
With today's America dominated by the automobile, it is difficult to believe that until the 1920s nearly 100 percent of the US population traveled via rail. Conventional passenger-train service spread
It would be impossible to imagine the rapid growth of the United States and Canada without railroads. From the industry's first tentative steps in the early nineteenth century to the railways of our d