The southern end of the trail is currently located at Pioneer Parkway in north Peoria, Illinois, and the northern end is in Toulon, Illinois, the county seat of Stark County.

The right-of-way served as a railroad line from 1871 to 1963, was unused in 1963-1989, and has been a public trail since 1989.

The current Rock Island Trail is a fragment of what was once a predecessor railroad, the Peoria and Rock Island Railroad built in 1869-1871, stretching southeastward from the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa to Peoria.

The Rock Island soon acquired the Peoria and Rock Island and added it to their extensive trackage throughout the North American Great Plains; and this branch line once delivered large quantities of barley, rye, and other small grains to the distilleries of Peoria for the manufacture of American blended whiskey.

With the coming of Prohibition in 1920, use of the railroad for this purpose declined, and the last train ran in 1963.