Search

Beginning in 1850, Congressional land grants shifted American rail development from a local into a national issue. Congressional involvement drastically altered American rail planning, resulting in a greater emphasis on direct connections between urban shipping centers rather than dense local networks. However, even within the national program, state and local interests still possessed significant latitude to shape their rail development. Yet, not all states were equally adept at redirecting national directives for maximum local benefit. For states without any meaningfully pre-existing infrastructure, such as Illinois, national intervention provided an opportunity to jump-start local economic growth. States with prior infrastructure systems, particularly those that conflicted with the national agenda, were not so lucky. Thus, Missouri, with its reliance on St. Louis and waterways, was unable to adapt to national rail intervention. The result was Chicago displacing St. Louis as the major shipping hub of the Midwest. I argue, through GIS, historical, and statistical analysis, that states' ability to redirect national plans to local benefit varies with the degree to which local plans coincide with national projects. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]