The St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company, better known as the Frisco, was incorporated on September 7, 1876.  The next twenty-five years were ones of rapid expansion.  By 1903 the Frisco was one of the premier railroads in the West-Southwest and had control over the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad, which gave it an entry into Chicago.  What it did not have was a route to the Gulf of Mexico.  The depression of 1913-14 led to the bankruptcy reorganization in 1916 and the name was changed to the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company.  The Frisco reorganization started the purchase of new locomotives and freight cars which allowed for new passenger trains.  Passenger trains such as "The Texas Special" and the "Firefly" were great name trains of their day.  By the early 1920's the railroad operated over 5700 miles of main line track.