With the next two years the town had a rapid growth. Churches were erected and almost every denomination was represented. In 1835 a newspaper was established and this indeed was a luxury that few Illinois towns supported in pioneer days.

The rapid development of Rushville in the first decade of its history was such as to attract attention in the great trade centers of the east and south, where our merchants made annual trips to purchase merchandise, and the town grew rapidly.

Rushville at this time was an important station on the state road from Springfield to Quincy, and a great portion of overland travel to the Galena lead mines also passed thru the village. There were stage routes to Quincy, Carthage, Beardstown, Macomb, and Lewistown, and the government mail contractor for this part of the state made his headquarters at Rushville. Greater things were expected when the gigantic scheme of internal improvements were inaugurated, but it was a strange stroke of fate that the first railroad constructed in Illinois detracted from Rushville a great portion of the transient business she had heretofore enjoyed. This road, running from Springfield to Meredosia, was first operated on Nov. 8, 1838, and when trains began to run regularly much of the traffic from Quincy to Springfield that had formerly passed thru Rushville was turned southward to Meredosia, and Rushville was fated by the very first railroad constructed in the state.

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