The Alton named the train after Ann Rutledge, a woman from New Salem, Illinois, who may have been the first love of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

[2]: 145  The Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad (GM&O) continued the Ann Rutledge upon its merger with the Alton in 1947.

[4]: 225 Amtrak revived the name Ann Rutledge on February 15, 1976, for an Amfleet-equipped train on the St. Louis-Chicago route, replacing a Turboliner frequency.

The revival proved short-lived: on October 31 Amtrak extended the Laredo-St. Louis Inter-American through to Chicago, replacing the Ann Rutledge.

In a reversal of the situation with the Alton in the 1930s, Amtrak used the Ann Rutledge's Amfleet coaches to re-equip a revived Abraham Lincoln.