Introduction

     It is hard to comprehend sometimes how and why towns such as Waterloo rapidly grew and prospered while other towns sputtered and stagnated, unable to find the spark that would lead them to the next level. Prior to the nineteenth century, cities in middle America held many of the same characteristics. As a whole, they were small and their citizens were mainly farmers. A family grew what they needed to in order to survive and crops that were in excess were frequently bartered away to acquire goods or services that farmers could not easily produce themselves. Compared to today's fast-paced lifestyle, an individual during the early part of the nineteenth century lived a simple life.

    As the nineteenth century progressed, a fundamental change was starting to occur in the interior of the United States. The subsistence farmer, though still a majority, had to make room for individuals who saw the land and surrounding area as more than black dirt that would sustain a family. Instead of producing crops just for themselves or bartering away extra meat, eggs, and grains to get materials they needed, people now purposely produced more than they could consume in order to purchase the objects that meat, eggs, and grains could not buy. Unfortunately for this new producer as well as the new consumer, the means by which to get goods and services that were not natively grown was difficult and usually expensive. For some people, acquiring a wider and more ample variety of goods was not overly difficult if they lived in an eastern seaport town or lived in close proximity to a frequently traveled river. Goods in these areas could be delivered quicker and at a cheaper cost than if one was to use a wagon pulled by horses or oxen.

    The majority of people who lived in the interior of the United States, however, had no access to a major river port. Land, therefore, was the only way by which goods could be dispersed. The goods that were hauled over mountains, prairies, and creeks would spoil in a short amount of time. The vast majority of goods then could only travel short and quick distances. In the 1850s, the interior settler was introduced to a new method of transportation that could travel over longer distances in a shorter time period than a horse or steamboat. The communities of yeomen farmers could now accomplish two things, receive goods that were far below the present price and send surplus crops to markets that were once out of reach. The name for this new method of transportation was the railroad, also occasionally called the "Iron Horse".

    In its beginnings, around the mid-1830s, the railroad was not common or even popular. It was not until the 1850s that the railroad started to challenge the rivers and canals for supremacy in the continental United States. Once it became clear that the railroad would be the primary means of transportation for people as well as goods, the landscape of the interior United States rapidly changed from subsistence farming only to cash cropping along with subsistence farming. It was at this time that towns started to either prosper or die out. A town's chances of prospering were greatly advanced if a railroad line was in close proximity. Moreover, the towns that the “Iron Horse” passed through were assured not only of growth, but also substantial economical and social advantages.

An excellent case study of the impact that the railroad industry had on an interior U.S. town is that of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and the budding town of Waterloo, Iowa. There are three major aspects to discuss surrounding the Illinois Central Railroad's presence in Waterloo that undoubtedly solidified the magnitude that the company had in creating and shaping the present-day city of Waterloo. The first aspect to discuss is the background knowledge of the city of Waterloo in the pre-Illinois Central era in order to understand the magnitude in which the city's future changed. Secondly, this paper will discuss the early years of the Illinois Central in Waterloo to demonstrate how the Illinois Central shaped the city of Waterloo as well as its hinterland. Finally, before the First Great War, certain events took place in the Illinois Central's repair shops, specifically a labor strike, that propelled the Illinois Central to advertise openings in southern newspapers. I will discuss how this action resulted in African Americans from the South migrating to Waterloo. To achieve an appreciation for the impact that the railroads had in dramatically changing Waterloo, it is important to know the course of events that directly impacted the city in achieving the economic prosperity and cultural diversity that now exist.