Alpha: The Town That Believed It Was the Beginning
Illinois
On June first, eighteen seventy-two, a man named Anson Calkins laid out a village at the junction of two Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad branch lines in Henry County. One branch ran north to south between Galesburg and Savanna. The other ran east to west between Galva and New Boston.
Calkins believed that where two railroads crossed, a great city would follow. He named his new settlement Alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, because he was convinced it was the beginning of something big. The city never quite materialized.
The village was formally incorporated in eighteen ninety-five and today has a population of a little over six hundred. But Calkins built his railroad junction town here, platted the streets, and gave it an ambitious name that still sits on the map. Not every beginning becomes a great city, but the name endures.
