Illinois Central Railroad Site
Grove Street, north side, mid-block behind Beer Nuts
Today, the old Illinois Central tracks through Bloomington-Normal serve as the centerpiece for a thirteen-plus mile hiking and biking network known as the Constitution Trail. On May 3, 1853, the Galena-Cairo branch of the Illinois Central Railroad reached Bloomington. For Lincoln, the rapidly expanding network of rail lines throughout central Illinois and beyond played a prominent role in his burgeoning legal practice and political career. Lincoln was hardly the backwoods barrister of popular myth. In fact, he was a successful and well-paid attorney whose clients included the Illinois Central Railroad, a corporate behemoth of its day.
