St Louis - San Francisco Railway Company (Frisco) stock certificate 1960's

Popular Frisco railroad piece with a great vignette of allegorical Greek god figures over the Frisco logo in front of a city scene, Issued and cancelled. Dated in the 1960's.

The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, also known as the Frisco, was a railroad that operated in the Midwest and South Central U.S. from 1876 to April 17, 1980. At the end of 1970 it operated 4,547 miles of road on 6,574 miles of track, not including subsidiaries Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railway or the Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad; that year it reported 12,795 million ton-miles of revenue freight and no passengers. It was purchased and absorbed into the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1980.

The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway was incorporated in Missouri on September 7, 1876. It was formed from the Missouri Division and Central Division of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. This land grant line was one of two railroads (the other being the M-K-T) authorized to build across Indian Territory. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, interested in the A & P right of way across the Mojave Desert to California, took the road over until the larger road went bankrupt in 1893; the receivers retained the western right of way but divested the ATSF of the St. Louis-San Francisco mileage on the great plains. After bankruptcy the Frisco emerged as the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad, incorporated on June 29, 1896, which also went bankrupt. On August 24, 1916 the company was reorganized as the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, though the line never went west of Texas, being more than 1,000 miles from San Francisco.

The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway had two main lines: St. Louis–Tulsa–Oklahoma City and Kansas City–Memphis–Birmingham. The junction of the two lines was in Springfield, Missouri, home to the company's main shop facility and headquarters.

From March, 1917, through January, 1959, Frisco, in a joint venture with the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad, operated the Texas Special. This luxurious train, a streamliner from 1947, ran from St. Louis to Dallas, Texas, Ft. Worth, Texas and San Antonio, Texas.  The railroad merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad on November 21, 1980.

The city of Frisco, Texas was named after the railroad and uses the former railroad's logo as its own logo. The logo is modeled after a stretched-out raccoon skin (giving rise to Frisco High School's mascot, the Fighting Raccoons).

The following companies were predecessors of the Frisco:

Pacific Railroad, charter granted by Missouri on March 3, 1849
Southwest Pacific Railroad, John C. Frémont reorganized in August 1866
Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, incorporated on July 27, 1866

The following railroads were acquired or merged into the Frisco:

Missouri and Western Railway: 1879
St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway: 1882
Springfield and Southern Railroad: 1885
Kansas City and Southwestern Railroad: 1886
Fayetteville and Little Rock Railroad: 1887
Fort Smith and Southern Railway: 1887
Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway: 1899
Kansas City, Osceola and Southern Railway: 1900
Arkansas and Oklahoma Railroad: 1901
St. Louis, Oklahoma and Southern Railway: 1901
Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis Railway: 1901
Arkansas Valley and Western Railway: 1907
Blackwell, Enid and Southwestern Railway: 1903
Red River, Texas and Southern Railway: 1904
Oklahoma City and Texas Railroad: December 19, 1904
Crawford County Midland and Railroad: May 20, 1905
Oklahoma City and Western Railroad: 1907 – December 19, 1910
Sapulpa and Oil Field Railroad: 1917
West Tulsa Belt Railway: 1922
Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad:1924
Pittsburg and Columbus Railway (Pittsburg, Kansas): 1925–1926
Springfield Connecting Railway: May 11, 1926
Kansas City and Memphis Railway and Bridge Company: 1928
Paris and Great Northern Railroad: July 21, 1928
Kansas City, Clinton and Springfield Railway: September 1, 1928
Alabama, Tennessee and Northern Railroad: December 28, 1948
Central of Georgia Railway: 1956.
~ The Interstate Commerce Commission did not approve the purchase, so the Frisco sold it to Southern Railway in 1961.
Northeast Oklahoma Railroad: December 27, 1963
St. Louis, Wichita and Western Railway: 1882
St. Louis and Oklahoma City Railroad: 1898
Kansas Midland Railroad: October 23, 1900
Oklahoma City Terminal Railroad: 1900–1903
Fort Smith and Van Buren Bridge Company: 1907
Ozark and Cherokee Central Railway: 1907
St. Louis, Memphis and Southern Railroad: 1907
Sulphur Springs Railway: 1907
Joplin Railway: 1910
Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway: 1919–1937
Fayetteville and Little Rock Railroad: 1926
Little Rock and Texas Railway: 1926
Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham Railroad: September 1, 1928
Muscle Shoals, Birmingham and Pensacola Railroad: 1928–1947
Miami Mineral Belt Railroad: 1950
St. Louis, Kennett and Southeastern Railroad: 1950
St. Louis, San Francisco and Texas Railway: 1963–1964
Birmingham Belt Railroad: 1967