Memphis and Little Rock Railroad

The Memphis & Little Rock Railroad was chartered by an act of the Arkansas General Assembly on January 11, 1853. The railroad company began laying track at West Memphis on the Mississippi River in 1854 and reached Madison, Arkansas, in 1858. The railroad reached DeVall's Bluff in 1871.

The railway reached the Argenta (North Little Rock) in 1869, and locomotives moved freely from Memphis to Little Rock in 1871. The Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf Railroad Company bought the Memphis & Little Rock in 1898, and built what is now known as the Rock Island Bridge across the Arkansas River. The Choctaw, Oklahoma, and Gulf Railroad was purchased by the Rock Island Railroad in April 1, 1904.