Decatur, IL: Railroad Hub and "Coybean Capital of the World"

decaturil.gov

Update: An animated map of Decatur showing then (1941) and now. It took me a while to figure out how to pan the map the see the time differences. But after I figured it out, it is really neat. One thing that amazed me is how much the NS/NW/Wabash yard has grown. I'm used to seeing contemporary yards being a shadow of what they once were. In the photo to the right, the white line down the middle is the dividing line between 1941 on the left and now on the right. It takes a while to load the data, but then it is quite responsive.

Richard Fiedler ->  >>   RAILROAD HISTORY BUFFS OF ILLINOIS

I'm using this aerial photo to index the other postings describing the railroad infrastructure that existed in Decatur. The roundhouse posting has a copy of this photo without any markings. The view is towards the east. Judging by the various cuts of cars, this photo was taken by the airplane flight that took the standard aerial photos used in the other postings.

• red: Wabash roundhouse
• yellow: B&O freighthouse
• green: WABIC tower and Wabash depot
• purple: Wabash coaling tower
• blue: IC depot and freighthouse
• orange: Wabash freighthouse

The Wabash yard and backshops were further east.

Mid-Century Decatur posted

In 1952, Decatur was known as the "Soybean Capital of the World". This aerial from that year shows three of the city's four large grain processing companies in order of scale. In the foreground is the grain storage facility for A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company. Behind it, further east, is the elevator complex of Spencer Kellogg & Sons. And in the distance is the smaller operation of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM).

Staley pioneered the soybean processing business in 1922. The initial Staley starch plant, starting operations from 1912, was the old Pratt Mill, a facility which had three times previously failed.

Spencer Kellogg had arrived in Decatur only 15 years earlier, in 1937, when they acquired the operations of Shellabarger Grain Products. ADM built their plant two years later, in 1939. ADM would eventually acquire Spencer Kellogg's operation in 1961.

Not shown is the Ralston Purina plant which was built in 1950 by Shellabarger Mills, one of the oldest companies in Decatur. Ralston Purina purchased the facility in 1952. Ralston Purina closed the facility in 1967, and the following year, ADM acquired it as well.

(H&R photo)

Brandon Allison: I vaguely recall seeing a Purina logo somewhere in town. I think it was out by Lakeview.
Gary Evans: Brandon Allison Just over the Staley Viaduct on 22nd...across from the old GE Plant and next to Pla-Mor Lanes.
Billy Irvin: Elevator D still in operation. Elevator C lost to the ages.

William A. Shaffer -> RAILROAD HISTORY BUFFS OF ILLINOIS

This photo taught me that B&O joined the Wabash tracks just east of the crossing and used trackage rights until it got to Boody, IL, where the B&O left to headed west to Springfield and Beardstown.

William A. Shaffer posted clippings from a newspaper that described the 12 railroad lines and four systems (Wabash; Illinois Central; Indiana, Decatur & Western and Vandalia) serving Decatur. Fortunately, he posted to a public group so you should be able to access the photos yourself. The article also mentioned grain being shipped to "three big mills." It was "one of the busiest freight terminals in the west, handling in its yards over 60 freight trains a day."

safe_image for REMEMBERING THE RAILS Looking back at Decatur's rich train history

The train history of Decatur

I'm surprised they did not mention the Caterpillar plant as a major industry. It is where Caterpillar makes its big mining trucks. Caterpillar closed down its plant southwest of Joliet to move work to this plant to keep it running after the mining industry collapsed and quit buying the big haul trucks.

Midwest Inland Port connects Decatur to world