in the middle of the town in a "Kick" Yard. After the trains were put together, crews would get on the train and proceed south to East St. Louis or north to Nelson, where they would be relieved and allowed to sleep for the next tour of operation. The Chicago and Northwestern also maintained a bunkhouse in South Pekin where crews could stop for the night. In the 1970s train crews would go onward through Nelson and proceed to Proviso (a suburb of Chicago) or to Clinton, Iowa. At times there were as many as 20 + trains per day either made up at South Pekin or that went through South Pekin. All these tracks running north-to-south through the middle of town created two communities—the East side and the west side. To reach the other side of town it was common to be delayed 20 minutes by switching operations or by a long train called a drag to clear the tracks. This was a problem sometimes as the fire station was on the west side and lead to a small fire building being constructed on the east side. There is another railroad line on the east side of South Pekin; the "Illinois Central". It would interchange cars onto a siding where they would be collated in the Northwestern trains. Not a lot of activity but this added to the awareness of railroads in the community. In the early 1900s, South Pekin grew to be a bustling town with its own bank, grocery and general stores, bakery, service stations, restaurants, and two hotels (one on the East and one on the West) and all of the amenities due to the railroad traffic. The center of the social world was the Comfort Inn on the West Side which offered Vaudeville, dancing, flickers, pool hall, barber, minor gambling, dining and bar. The bustling activity of the town slowed in the late 20th century and many businesses faded with the role of railroads. In the post war period South Pekin was a place that one would associate with average America. South Pekin has been a home to a recording studio called Golden Voice Recording, owned and operated by Jerry L and Mary Anne Milam. South Pekin continues to hang on to the Midwestern way and is currently a village of approximately 1100 people (in accordance with 2010 census information). The village, like the rest