Research

RESEARCH

A large collection of archives of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad were saved by the Danville Junction Chapter, NRHS, in 1969. After acquisition by the Missouri Pacific Railroad the new owner made the decision that many of the records would be moved from Danville to the company’s office in St. Louis, Missouri. At the same time a large amount of the records stored on the third floor of the former Oaklawn Shop office building in Danville were to be destroyed. Through the effort of Robert Block, deceased C&EI employee and charter member of the chapter, many of the records were saved and are today part of the chapter collection. 

Recently much of this collection was moved to the Vermilion County Museum in Danville to better preserve the collection and provide access for those doing research. With the organization of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Historical Society these records and other artifacts from various locations that have been donated or purchased by the society and are now maintained by the C&EI HS. At the present time the society has a collection of over 9000 photographs, many from the Ray Curl collection, a complete timetable collection along with a nearly complete collection of the railroad’s official publication, “The C&EI Flyer Magazine”.

The C&EI HS maintains a museum in the depot at Watseka, Illinois. Part of the museum in an archive area of records and other documents from the C&EI Railroad through donation or acquisition. The archives at Watseka are also available for research. The museum is open for research by appointment only by contacting the archivist noted below.

The entire collection is available to researchers.   Individuals interested in researching the history of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad can contact society members noted elsewhere on this web site. They may also contact the following organizations:

C&EI HS, Archivist, 1205 Ridge Creek Road, Savoy, Illinois 61874, or the Vermilion County Museum, Attn: Director Sue Richter, 115 North Gilbert Street, Danville, Illinois 61832. Both organizations require that arrangements be made to view and research the collections and a member of the C&EI HS must be present.