Crossing the IAIS and the Illinois River at Chillicothe is the former Santa Fe Railroad, now owned by BNSF Railway.

Almost 4 miles outside of town the BNSF Railway operates one of the most notable civil engineering points on the Chillicothe Subdivision.

The Illinois River runs both north and south connecting Chicago with St. Louis.

In the late 1800s, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was building its mainline from Chicago to Kansas City and selected Chillicothe as its crossing point of the Illinois River.

The railroad quickly became an establishment in Chillicothe as a crew change point and a notable stop in Central Illinois.

Chillicothe today still remains a key point on the Southern Transcon route between Chicago and Los Angeles with high frequency intermodal freight trains moving through daily.

Bush, Representative Robert H. Michel, & Governor James Thompson stopped in Chillicothe to close out Election '88 in Illinois.

Chillicothe Junior High (CJH) serves the northern half of the school district (Grades 4–8) in Chillicothe proper while Mossville Junior High (Grades K-8) serves the southern part of the school district.

Illinois Valley Central High School (IVC) serves Chillicothe and is the home to the Grey Ghosts.

Most notably, the IVC Marching Grey Ghosts have accumulated 15 state titles since 1990, most recently in 2019.

[11] In 2016, St. Edward was featured in regional news outlets for the "Miracle in Chillicothe" fundraising campaign that collected over $500,000 in one week to complete emergency repairs to the building roof.

In 1996, however, following the merger of the Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe railroads to form the BNSF, and a connection put in between the Burlington Northern line from Chicago and the Santa Fe's Chillicothe Subdivision at Cameron, Illinois,[17] the Chief was rerouted to Galesburg over the BNSF's Mendota Subdivision (also used by the California Zephyr) through Naperville, Princeton, and Mendota.

Unlike its neighbors, Chillicothe's crossing of the Illinois River throughout its history has primarily been via the railroad.

At one time there was briefly a ferry service connecting residents of rural Woodford County during the 1920's.