In February, 1859, the city of St. Joseph celebrated the completion of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, which was the first line to reach the Kansas border. Just a year later, ground was broken at Wyandotte for the Kansas Central Railroad. Mention has already been made of the first track laid in Kansas, which was on the Elwood & Marysville road on March 20, 1860. Within a month several miles of track were laid and on April 23rd the old locomotive "Albany" arrived. This engine had been used in the construction of railroads all the way from the Atlantic seaboard to the Missouri River as the "Star of Empire" pursued its westward course. On the 24th, a number of invited guests assembled to celebrate the opening of the first section of the great Pacific railway.C harles S. Gleed, in one of the Kansas Historical Collections, said: "The cars which followed the 'Albany' that day were all flat cars, well calculated to carry the festive party, composed about equally of men and barrels. The cars were decorated with green boughs to cover their native ugliness, and seats were constructed of planks set crosswise of the cars. The engine was gaudy with the colors of the rainbow and some that the rainbow never yet developed. The engineer was conscious of the importance of his task, and did his best to prove his engine as fast as the load she was pulling. The track was rough, of course, and crooked, but it held together, and the trip was duly accomplished."

M. Jeff Thompson, afterward an officer in the Confederate Army, was president of the company that thus opened the first railroad in the State of Kansas. During the war railroad building was practically at a stand still all over the country, but immediately after the restoration of peace it was taken up with renewed vigor. In July, 1866, Congress passed several acts granting large tracts of land, in alternate sections on either side of the line for a distance of 10 miles, to railroad companies. In his message to the legislature of 1867 Governor Crawford announced that there were then 300 miles of railroad in operation in the state, and that work on the eastern division of the Union Pacific was being prosecuted with energy and success. "The road," said he, "was completed from Wyandotte to Lawrence in 1864, a distance of 40 miles; from Lawrence to Topeka in 1865, a distance of 27 miles; and during the year 1866, from Topeka westward nearly 100 miles, and grading mostly completed for 50 or 60 miles further; also the branch road from Leavenworth to Lawrence, a distance of 33 miles, making for the year 1866 about 133 miles of road, or one-half mile for each working day."

He also stated that work was being pushed on the Central Branch from Atchison westward; that 15 miles of the St. Joseph & Denver had been completed; that the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston directors had transferred the franchise of that company to a new corporation that promised to complete the road to the southern boundary of the state within two years, and that the Union Pacific Company expected to complete 200 miles of the eastern division during the ensuing year. This expectation was evidently realized, as in his message to the legislature of 1869 the governor announced that the road was completed to within 35 miles of the western boundary of the state. In the same year the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston was completed to Ottawa, the Missouri River railroad was put in operation between Wyandotte and Leavenworth, and 90 miles of the Central Branch were finished.