First railroad bridge across the Mississippi River completed
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.