(
Satellite, based on Photo 5 and the aerial photos below.)
The Ogle County Historical Society
posted 12 photos with the comment: "Kings Station became a busy stop in the Chicago Iowa (CB&Q) line in the late 1800s and early 1900s."
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1
Henry King, along with other influential farmers in the area, convinced the Chicago Iowa Railway company to build tracks from Rochelle to Rockford with stops along the way at Kings Station, Holcomb and Davis Junction. This spur line created an industry of shipping for the local farmers that otherwise might have ended up west of their locations. Here's are some of the 'section crew' using a handcar to inspect the tracks. During census years, you can find many men listed in town as being railroad workers.
Steve Adams: Remember the day they tore this down. The older folks watching and telling stories of the Depot and what it meant to the townsfolk back in the day. |
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2
This picture is taken, looking north towards Holcomb. In the background you can make out the long harness shop building. |
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3
Passengers getting off the train and walking toward downtown Kings, located to the east of the station. |
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4
Locomotive and train coming into Kings from south of town. |
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5
An elevated view looking north out of kings. The depot is in the center of the picture. The elevator built by Henry King is on the west side of the tracks. Stockyard pens and storage for other shipped goods is on the left side of the picture. The harness shop is the long building to the right. |
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6
Harness shop in Kings |
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7
Inside the harness shop |
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8
Crowds would gather to hear Teddy Roosevelt give his speeches during the whistle stop campaign he took across the country. |
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9
This is a picture of him in Rochelle in 1903. |
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10
Second picture of Roosevelt in Rochelle. One of the older residents of Kings was a young girl in 1903 and remembers clearly, going down to the depot with her parents, to listen to that 'handsome' man talk from the back of his railroad car. |
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11
See the next picture for the explanation written on the back of this picture taken in Kings around 1914. |
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| 12 |
There was a small railyard in this town.
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| 1917/69 Kings Quad @ 62,500 |
The depot would have been in the foreground of this view. The
town's grain elevator now uses some of the railyard land. Not only do the tracks still exist, but they are also being maintained. I don't think the elevator gets rail service.
This is one of the former CB&Q routes that it operated by Illinois Railway.
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