Mississippi Central Railroad Company (1897-1967)

The Mississippi Central Railroad Company was incorporated under the laws of Mississippi on March 10, 1852, and consolidated into the New Orleans, St. Louis & Chicago Railroad Company in 1874.

The company completed a railroad from Canton, Miss., to the Tennessee line on January 31, 1860. On July 1, 1859, the company absorbed the Mississippi Central & Tennessee Railroad Company (1853-59) which extended its line to Jackson, Tenn. With the New Orleans, Jackson & Northern and the Mobile & Ohio, the company formed part of a north-south trunk line from New Orleans to Columbus, Ky., running inland from the Mississippi River.

Like all Southern railroads, the Mississippi Central was badly damaged in the Civil War. After the war, it came under the influence of a "carpetbag" promoter, Henry S. McComb of Wilmington, Delaware. McComb joined with other northern investors in forming the Southern Railroad Association, which in July 1868 leased the Mississippi Central. McComb also acquired control of its southern connection, the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern, in April 1870, outbidding the local management headed by ex-General Beauregard. The two roads were amalgamated in 1874 to form the New Orleans, St. Louis & Chicago Railroad Company, but this merger was not fully consummated.

McComb arranged with the Illinois Central Railroad to extend his line northward to a point opposite the terminus of the Illinois Central at Cairo, Ill. He also developed the town of McComb, Mississippi, as a site for the company's shops, a rather blatant land speculation.

The Cairo extension opened on January 1, 1874, but McComb's program had bankrupted the company and it entered receivership on March 11, 1876. McComb and the Illinois Central clashed over who would control the receivership. McComb lost, and the Illinois Central dominated the company thereafter. The New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern was sold on March 17, 1877, and reorganized as the New Orleans, Jackson & Northern. The Mississippi Central was sold on August 23, 1877, and reorganized as the Central Mississippi Railroad. They were consolidated as the Chicago, St. Louis & New Orleans Railroad on November 8, 1877.