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TRRA HISTORY

The Terminal Railroad’s history began well before the founding date of July 30, 1889. The Company’s numerous predecessor companies date back to 1797 when the first river ferry was established in the region by Captain James Piggott. Captain Piggott was granted a license to operate a ferry between the Post of St. Louis and Illinoistown (later East St. Louis) when the area was still known as Upper Louisiana, a Spanish colony. The ferry-boat he used was a simple platform floating on hollowed-out tree trunks which was poled, or paddled, with long sweeps. Captain Piggott and his heirs operated the ferry until 1819 when the business was acquired by Mr. Samuel Wiggins.

Mr. Wiggins subsequently acquired some 900 acres of land along the Illinois banks of the Mississippi directly across from present day St. Louis, Missouri. In 1820, Mr. Wiggins built a ferry-boat that ran on horse-power. Eight horses were used to turn a horizontal wheel that was connected to a paddle-wheel which propelled the boat. In 1828, Mr. Wiggins made use of the first steam ferry-boat named the St. Clair. The business was sold in 1832 and incorporated as the Wiggins Ferry Company in 1853. The Wiggins Ferry Company not only operated a ferry business for individuals wanting to cross the Mississippi, but it also developed extensive yards, depots, warehouses, railroad tracks and elevators. Eventually, the Wiggins Ferry Company became a major connecting point for the many railroads terminating at East St. Louis, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri. By 1870, the Wiggins Ferry Company had established a rail-car ferry system to move rail traffic over the Mississippi. As the first bridge spanning the Mississippi River would not be completed until 1874, the only way to move train traffic over the river was by ferry – car by car.

At the time of the formation of the Terminal Railroad Association in 1889, the original eight owner railroads owned a substantial interest in the Wiggins Ferry Company. When the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company, the only other stockholder of the Wiggins Ferry Company, was admitted to the Association in 1902, the Terminal Railroad Association gained complete control over the Wiggins Ferry Company.

The story of the Wiggins Ferry Company and its eventual possession by the Terminal Railroad Association is very similar to the numerous other mergers that went into the formation of the Company. Predecessor corporations of the present day TRRA constructed the James B. Eads Bridge in 1874, the first bridge over the Mississippi River. Another predecessor company built the Merchants Bridge in 1890, the second crossing of the Mississippi in St. Louis. The histories of these companies, and many others like them, make up the great history of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.

The formation of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis grew out of an agreement orchestrated by Mr. Jay Gould in 1889 between predecessor entities of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis and six proprietary railroads. The Company was created for the purpose of securing to the various owners an efficient and economical method of interchanging passenger and freight traffic over the Mississippi River. The original railroads making up the Association were the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Company, Wabash Railroad Company, the Ohio and Mississippi Railway Company, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company. Numerous other railroads were subsequently admitted to the Association in later years. These owner railroads, consistent with the entire railroad industry, have grown through mergers and acquisitions over the years. The Company’s present-day owners are the Union Pacific Railroad, Burlington Northern and Sante Fe Railway, CSX Transportation, Canadian National Railroad, and Norfolk Southern Corporation.

Today, Terminal Railroad owns and operates the Merchants Bridge, the MacArthur Bridge, a rail switching facility in Madison, Illinois, and several key railroad routes in St. Louis, Missouri, and Madison and St. Clair Counties in Illinois. The Merchants Bridge is a half-mile long railroad-only bridge over the Mississippi River located just north of the downtown St. Louis area. The Merchants Bridge was completed on March 18, 1890, and remains a vital link in the Company's operations. The MacArthur Bridge is part of a 6.2 mile long elevated track which crosses the Mississippi River in the heart of the St. Louis downtown area. The MacArthur Bridge and elevated track is the second-longest elevated steel structure across the Mississippi River. The MacArthur Bridge was originally constructed with a road deck over the rail deck; the bridge is currently used for railroad traffic only.

Terminal Railroad acquired the MacArthur Bridge in 1989 from the City of St. Louis in exchange for the title to the James B. Eads Bridge. The Eads Bridge, one of the primary reasons for the Company’s original formation, had become obsolete for modern-day rail traffic due to the height restrictions it placed on rail cars. When the City of St. Louis decided to build a light-rail commuter system to link St. Louis with the suburb communities in Illinois, the exchange of the MacArthur Bridge for the Eads Bridge became a reality. The Company’s rail switching yard in Madison, Illinois, is the heart of the Company’s operations. Inbound trains arrive at Madison on a daily basis and are switched out to make up outgoing trains destined for various locations throughout the United States. The Terminal also provides services to industries in the local St.Louis area.

St.Louis Union Station

St. Louis Union Station, a National Historic Landmark, is a former passenger train terminal in St. Louis, Missouri. Once the world's largest and busiest train station, it was converted in the early 1980s into a luxury hotel, shopping center, and entertainment complex. Today, it is one of the city's major tourist attractions. The station opened on September 1, 1894, and was owned by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. Designed by Theodore Link, it included three main areas: the Headhouse, the Midway and the 11.5-acre Train Shed. The headhouse originally housed a hotel, a restaurant, passenger waiting rooms and railroad ticketing offices. It featured a gold-leafed Grand Hall, Romanesque arches, a 65-foot barrel-vaulted ceiling and stained-glass windows. The clock tower is 280 feet high. Union Station's headhouse and midway are constructed of Indiana limestone and initially included 32 tracks under its vast trainshed terminating in the stub-end terminal. At its height, the station combined the St. Louis passenger services of 22 railroads. At its opening, it was the world's largest and busiest railroad station and its trainshed was the largest roof span in the world. In 1903, the station was expanded to accommodate visitors to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. In the 1940s, it handled 100,000 passengers a day. The famous photograph of Harry S. Truman holding aloft the erroneous Chicago Tribune headline, "Dewey Defeats Truman," was shot at the station as Truman headed back to Washington, DC from Independence, Missouri after the 1948 Presidential election. As railroad passenger services declined in the 1950s and 1960s, the massive station became obsolete and too expensive to maintain for its original purpose. With the takeover of national rail passenger service by Amtrak in 1971, passenger train service to St. Louis was reduced to only three trains a day. In 1978, the last train left St. Louis Union Station. Amtrak trains began using a small building two blocks east of Union Station, dubbed "Amshak" by rail enthusiasts. The "temporary" structure is to be replaced by a new facility, now under construction. In August 1985, after a $150 million renovation, Union Station was reopened with a 539-room hotel, shopping mall, restaurants and food court. The hotel is housed in the headhouse and part of the train shed, which also houses a lake and shopping, entertainment and dining establishments. Omni, the original hotel operator, has since been replaced by the Hyatt Regency Hotel chain. MetroLink, the St. Louis light rail mass transit system, serves Union Station from its station next to the trainshed.

Harvey Girls

In the heyday of American railroading a well-known eatery provided passengers with fine food and friendly service. At the turn of the century, Fred Harvey opened one of his famous eateries in what was then the Terminal Hotel at St. Louis Union Station. Harvey was responsible for changing the concept of railroad dining in the late 1800s. To satisfy the traveler's needs, their orders were taken by the brakeman while still on board the train, then wired to the restaurant manager in advance. This procedure made relaxed railway dining feasible, allowing plenty of time for travelers to catch the next train.
Instrumental in the success of the Fred Harvey Restaurant were the renowned waitresses, the "Harvey Girls," who delighted patrons with their midwestern hospitality.

It has been said that Fred Harvey's most popular attraction was the "Harvey Girl." MGM's memorable 1946 movie, The Harvey Girls starring Judy Garland, made these famous waitresses a household name.

There were strict rules in the Fred Harvey establishment. "Harvey Girls" were to be of high moral character, between the ages of 18 and 20, attractive and intelligent, and had to vow not to marry for a year after employment. In addition, the ladies were chaperoned by a housemother who enforced their 10 p.m. curfew.