[4] The road's first construction contract was dated August 21, 1869,[5] and on January 6, 1873 it was opened from Streator to Pekin, except for about 6 miles (9.7 km) of trackage rights on the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railway between Eureka (Streator Junction) and Washington (Pekin Junction).
[8] The CP&SW was sold at foreclosure on May 31, 1881 to Hinckley and reorganized on May 15, 1882 as the Chicago, St. Louis and Western Railroad.
[5] The Santa Fe and Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) jointly acquired control of the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad (TP&W), successor to the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railway, in 1960,[10] and in January 1981 the Santa Fe bought the PRR's 50% share from successor Penn Central Corporation, merging it on December 3, 1983.
[11] The TP&W branched off the Santa Fe's Chicago line at Lomax, Illinois and headed east through Peoria (just north of Pekin) to Logansport, Indiana, and so this acquisition allowed the Santa Fe to abandon most of its Pekin Branch.
[13] The rest of the old line, between Corwith and Ancona, is now part of successor BNSF Railway's Chillicothe Subdivision.