Editing Gilman, Illinois (section)

===Continued growth===
[[File:Gilman, Illinois town hall.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The town hall and water tower.]]
By the late 1860s, Gilman had two railroads. The eastern branch of the Illinois Central linked [[St. Louis]] and [[Chicago]], while the Toledo Peoria and Western ran east and west across the state, from the [[Mississippi River]] to [[Indiana]]. Gilman prospered as the place where people and goods were transferred from one railroad to the other. In 1870 newspaper, the ''Gilman Star'' began publication. The 1870 federal census found Gilman had 761 people. In September 1871, a third railroad, originally called the [[Gilman, Clinton and Springfield Railroad]], opened for business. It was largely funded by local bonds and never enjoyed the success of the earlier railroads.<ref>Kern 1907, p. 682.</ref> On 5 July 1883 a severe fire damaged much of the town.<ref>Dowling 1968, p. 55.</ref> An electric power plant was built in 1898.

Unlike many local towns, Gilman continued to grow in the twentieth century. In 1920, there were 1,443 people. In 1923 and 1924, the state of Illinois began building a new "hard road" paralleling the Toledo Peoria and Western Railroad, which was at first called the Corn Belt Trail, but soon became [[U.S. Route 24]]. A second new road, paralleling the [[Illinois Central Railroad]] through Iroquois County, initially known as the Egyptian Trail, evolved into [[Interstate 57]] in the 1970s. In the last decade, a second water tower was built along Interstate 57 on the western side of Gilman.