The city of Waterloo, Iowa, before the arrival of the Illinois Central Railroad, was a typical western town of the 1850s. New towns west of the Mississippi River, such as Waterloo, were young and overwhelmingly based on subsistence agriculture. Without efficient methods of transporting foodstuff, materials that would enable a small community to grow were too expensive and difficult to obtain. Thus, towns such as Waterloo were not able to prosper beyond simple means.

Waterloo=s first settlers were George and Mary Hanna in 1845. “They had heard about the Cedar Valley, the richest part of Iowa, and they were coming to stake their claim.”¹ Within a few years the Hannas were joined by other settlers, who, like the Hannas, viewed the black, fertile topsoil that bordered the Cedar River as the land that would provide them with the opportunity to prosper. It was the settlers of Waterloo whose hard work provided solid foundations that would, in the future, sustain and attract a larger population. During the winter of 1847-48, the founding settlers built a dam that was a prerequisite for the sawmill, the first in Black Hawk County, in the early spring of 1848.2

 

The accomplishments of the early settlers in the city of Waterloo were indeed magnificent. There was, however, still the problem of transportation. If the town was to prosper and more importantly endure, a means of efficient transportation was needed. The main way that travelers passed through the city of Waterloo in the days of the founders was by using the Indian trails. Indians had previously lived in what became Black Hawk County before the U.S. government purchased the land and forced them to leave. Besides the Indian trails, the early citizens of Waterloo created their own paths that would meet the needs of the person traveling it. It was not until the 1850s that the Iowa state legislature authorized a system of state roads, several of which passed through Waterloo and Black Hawk County.³

In the late 1840s and early 1850s, a method of transportation was being heralded by citizens on the East coast as the invention that would connect them with people of the West coast. This relatively new method of travel was the railroad. The railroad in its infancy was not viewed as or thought of in the same capacity as it would be around the turn of the century. When the railroad was established in the United States during the 1830s, its future impact was not yet fully understood. In fact, in 1830 the nation had only 13 miles of railroad track, and most of the lines constructed in the following decade served as feed lines to canals.@⁴
 

Though the railroad would eventually prove to be an invaluable asset to the city, another matter was occupying the minds of the people of Waterloo- its rivalry with Cedar Falls. Cedar Falls was founded roughly about the same time as Waterloo, in March 1845. Two cities founded at the same time and in close proximity can be compared to two siblings who are close in age. When two siblings are growing up, they feel that there is a constant competition between the two. When one sibling accomplishes something, there can be jealously from the other. This analogy is very close to what happened with the people of Waterloo and Cedar Falls. The possibility was great that whichever city achieved more, the other would be in its constant shadow. Several instances of sibling rivalry between Waterloo and Cedar Falls occurred in the 1850s. There was the battle over which town would be the county seat, a distinction Cedar Falls had obtained but the determination of the Waterloo residents wrestled away. The Waterloo people lobbied and received from the Iowa State Legislature to have, Aqualified electors of Black Hawk

  

County to vote on the removal of the county seat.@⁵ When all was said and

 

done, Waterloo came out the overwhelming victor in the fight with its sister

 

city.

 

By getting the county seat, Waterloo would now stand out as a place of importance in the county and surrounding area. Now the city would be able to attract more business, people, and money to the community. There was still the problem though of how people would get to Waterloo. Iowa was still a young state and the population was sparse. Destiny, it could be said, was in the stars for the city and citizens of Waterloo. During this time period, people, particularly in the eastern United States, believed soundly in what John L. O=Sullivan termed AManifest Destiny.@ Americans believed that it was by God=s will that the white man would have control of all of North America, from coast to coast. Moreover, people of the early 1850s had finally realized that it was the railroad that would take the people of the East, as well as goods and services, and disperse them throughout the land. Railroad tracks were being constructed on the East coast. New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C. were all connected by rail. As the railroad headed west, Chicago became the hub of the Midwest rail system. Americans, at the time, felt it was only natural to keep pushing west. This is why the citizens of Waterloo could have believed that destiny or providence was on their side. By pushing the railroad west, coupled with Chicago as the main hub of the area and the belief that the quickest way between two points is a straight line, the city of Waterloo was destined to gain access to the outside world.

The impact and transformation that a railroad had on a community such as Waterloo were enormous. First and most important, the people of Waterloo would be more efficiently connected to the outside world. By having a railroad pass through the city, the possibilities that could arise from it would be endless. People now would be able to travel back and forth from Black Hawk County to other points on the rail system faster. What once would be a weeklong journey by wagon or horse could now be completed in a day=s time. Furthermore, by having a rail line, information would be able to cover greater distances in shorter times. News, mail, and other important announcements from the populated East could now be dispersed to the less populated West more quickly.

 

By far, one of the most important aspects of having a rail line pass through a town was the revenue it would generate. By having a train depot in Waterloo, investors would set up businesses that would gladly take the money of people arriving, leaving, or just passing through Waterloo. Part of the invested money, if not all of it, would then be used by the proprietor to purchase goods and services from other people in the community, and they in turn would use the money to buy goods and services. It was like a pebble tossed into water; the ripples of influence kept moving. Besides having businesses set up in Waterloo from eastern investors, the railroad company itself would be a major investor in the town. When trains stopped they would need to be refitted for further travel. All of the things that a train and its employees needed would bring growth to the community in terms of money and jobs.

 

Unfortunately, the possibility of acquiring a train depot would not be all bliss for the people of Waterloo. The arrival of a train could increase some of the aspects of what was seen as human impurity that the founders of Waterloo strove to keep out. Saloons, vagrancy, gambling, and violence would have a greater chance of establishing themselves. Moreover, the railroad might prove difficult for people to move to Waterloo. ASpace limitation [in trains] curtailed the settler=s needs and desires to move household goods, farm implements, seed, stock, and clothing.@⁶

The first opportunity that the people of Black Hawk County had to secure a route on the line coming west occurred in August 1846. AJohn Randall, judge of the County Court, who had . . .  jurisdiction over financial affairs called an election of voters to be held on September 10, 1856 for the possible future establishment of a railroad line.@⁷ The reason this vote took place was that the incoming line would need financial support to maintain railroad production and complete the construction of the railroad lines. When Randall=s successor, J. Hubbard, took over in the fall of 1856, the construction was stopped due to Hubbard not issuing financial bonds that subsidized the construction. To compound this problem, Waterloo, along with the rest of the country, suffered a severe depression that hit many businesses and forced the Apostponement or cancellation of railroad building plans.@⁸

As with all great cities demanding prosperity, the people of Waterloo were not about to let others take away their chances, through either ignorance, such as with J. Hubbard, or what seemed to be difficult times, as was with the panic of 1857. The city's