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. The Little Rock locomotive crossed the Mississippi for the first time on September 12, 1857.

Iron rails reached Madison, Arkansas, in 1858. The railroad bridged the White River, a key gap in the route, near 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 & 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.

References

• Gene Hull, "First Iron Horse Runs on Memphis & Little Rock," Arkansas Railroader 37.7 (July 2006): 4.