John Brough

(Sept. 17, 1811-Aug. 29, 1865). In addition to being a noted newspaperman, politician, and Civil War governor in his native Ohio, Brough was a conspicuous figure in the development of railroads in Indiana. Two of those roads, the Madison and Indianapolis and the Bellefontaine Line to Cleveland, terminated at Indianapolis.

President of the former from 1849 to 1854 and of the latter from 1854 to 1863, Brough lived first in Madison and then in Indianapolis before returning to the Buckeye state. Along with Chauncey Rose of the Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad, he attempted, unsuccessfully to establish a railroad linking Indianapolis and St. Louis. While president of the Madison and Indianapolis Brough joined Rose, Oliver H. Smith, Thomas Morris, and other early railroad executives in planning and constructing the city’s original Union Station. He was a key figure in helping Indianapolis become known as “The Railroad City.”

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