Back in the day, St. Louis and the state of Missouri was the epicenter of the railways, from the first steam engines to railroad tunnels. Entire cities were created by and for railroads. Kirkwood for example was built by Pacific Railroad and named for its first land engineer James Kirkwood. There’s a new book that chronicles the history of rail here in the St. Louis area. It’s called Trains and Trolleys: Railroads and Streetcars in St. Louis. The author Molly Butterworth explained some of the history revealed in her book.