 The Chicago and Cincinnati Railroad opened the line from Logansport to La Crosse and beyond to Valparaiso in 1861; a bridge over the Wabash River at Logansport, connecting to the existing line, was opened the same year by the Cincinnati and Chicago Air-Line Railroad.The Chicago and Great Eastern Railway opened the line from La Crosse to Chicago (and abandoned the old line to Valparaiso) in 1865, and absorbed the Chicago and Cincinnati Railroad and Cincinnati and Chicago Air-Line Railroad later that year.The piece from Union City to Marion was opened in 1867 from by the Columbus and Indiana Central Railway, the successor to the Columbus, Piqua and Indiana Railroad, and, in 1868, the Columbus and Indiana Central Railway and Chicago and Great Eastern Railway merged to form the Columbus, Chicago and Indiana Central Railway and completed the line from Marion to Anoka; the CC&IC owned the entire line from Columbus to Chicago.