Alton Jacksonville & Peoria

Company History: The history of electric interurban railways in America is riddled with dashed hopes and lost fortunes. The AJ&P was established in 1904 to build from the Mississippi River port of Alton, Illinois to Peoria. By the next year they had managed to build just 5 miles north from Alton to the small town of Godfrey. It was another six years before the AJ&P could assemble the wherewithal to extend the line north to Jerseyville. Since there was no business to be had between Godfrey and Jerseyville, this extension mostly served to increase the company’s losses. The company entered bankruptcy in 1912. It was reorganized in 1914 as the Alton & Jacksonville who had no more luck than the AJ&P. The line was abandoned in 1918.

Brief History: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.