This third round-trip was intended as a Chicago—Springfield route and received funding from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

[1]: 227 [2] Over its 33-year history the State House stopped in Joliet, Pontiac, Lincoln, Springfield, Carlinville, Alton and St. Louis.

Service to Bloomington ended on June 10, 1990, when operations moved to a new station up the tracks in Normal.

[1]: 236 From 1986 to 1996, the State House was complemented as far as Springfield by the Loop, which departed Chicago in the morning and returned in the afternoon.

Amtrak re-branded the State House as the Lincoln Service on October 30, 2006,[3] as it and Illinois launched two additional round-trips over the same corridor.