Alpha, IL

Alpha is a Henry County village laid out by Anson Calkins on June 1, 1872, as a railroad town. It replaced the earlier settlement of Oxford about three miles west and grew at the junction of two Chicago, Burlington & Quincy lines: the north-south route between Galesburg and Savanna and the east-west route between Galva and New Boston. The east-west line is gone, but the BNSF Barstow Subdivision still runs through the village. Alpha’s name came from the first letter of the Greek alphabet; Calkins hoped it marked the beginning of a great city.

ATTRrailfan 44 / Public domain

The village incorporated in 1895, and the railroad still gives the street grid and local history its strongest thread. Alwood Community Unit School District 225 serves the area, while Henry County’s farm roads connect Alpha with Galesburg, Cambridge, and the smaller settlements around it. The 2020 census counted 675 residents. Alpha is a compact place with a very nineteenth-century premise: put the depot at the crossing, give the town a forward-looking name, and see what the tracks bring.