Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul and Pacific Railroad

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company was the formal name behind the Milwaukee Road, one of America’s great, and eventually greatly troubled, railroads. Incorporated on March 31, 1927, it succeeded the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway after a bankruptcy reorganization. Its general offices were in Chicago, Illinois, while its rails reached through the Midwest and across the northern plains to Seattle and Tacoma.

The Milwaukee Road was known for serious freight business and seriously stylish passenger trains. Its Hiawatha streamliners, including the Olympian Hiawatha, became symbols of fast, modern rail travel. The company also helped build Chicago Union Station and operated a vast network that at its height connected communities from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Northwest.

The long route west, however, was expensive to build and maintain. The railroad endured bankruptcies in 1925, 1935, and 1977; during its final restructuring it shed two-thirds of its trackage. The Soo Line Corporation acquired the remaining Milwaukee Road on February 21, 1985, then merged Milwaukee Road, Inc. into the Soo Line on January 1, 1986. A hard end for a railroad with a very long reach.

Our Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul and Pacific Railroad collection celebrates the railroaders who kept the timetable moving, the travelers who rode the Hiawathas, and the collectors and history fans who still recognize a legendary Milwaukee Road logo when it rolls into view.