04/21/1856
The Rock Island Railroad Bridge, the first railroad bridge to cross the Mississippi River, was completed and tested that day with the weight of a locomotive. The next day a full train with three engines and eight passenger cars made the crossing between Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport, Iowa. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation:
Joseph Nathan Kane, ed., Famous First Facts (New York: H.W. Wilson Company, 1981), 677.