Editing Atchison, Kansas (section)

===Industrialization===
[[File:Atchison-bridges-2011-flood.jpg|thumb|right|The new Atchison Bridge, the [[Amelia Earhart Bridge]] and the Atchison rail bridge on June 26, 2011, during the [[2011 Missouri River floods]]]]

In the late 1850s, plans were underway to connect California to the rest of the country by rail.  The logical location for a western terminus was in or around [[San Francisco, California]], but an eastern terminus had yet to be chosen.  Atchison was in fierce competition to be selected as the terminus, and in order to bolster its position, a rail line was constructed from [[St. Joseph, Missouri]] to Atchison between 1857 and 1859, funded in large part by $150,000 raised by the citizens of Atchison and connected to the Hannibal & St. Joseph R.R. at its eastern end.<ref>{{cite web|last=Cutler|first=William|title=History of the State of Kansas|url=http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/eraop/era-of-peace-p2.html#ATCHISON_TOPEKA_SANTA_FE_RAILROAD|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030514165934/http://kancoll.org/books/cutler/eraop/era-of-peace-p2.html#ATCHISON_TOPEKA_SANTA_FE_RAILROAD|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 May 2003|access-date=13 December 2012}}</ref> The Atchison and Topeka Railroad was founded in 1859 with Atchison as its eastern terminus and the intention of connecting Kansas to the southwest by rail.  Although construction was delayed by the Civil War, a land grant similar to the one given the Union Pacific to construct the [[first transcontinental railroad]] was made by the federal government to Kansas in 1863, which was transferred to the newly reformed [[Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad]] (AT&SF).  Finally, in 1868, construction was begun on the line in Topeka, but was aimed west and south towards the Colorado border.  The connection between Atchison and [[Topeka, Kansas|Topeka]], a distance of less than 50 miles, would not be completed until May, 1872.

The city tried to become a major railroad center, but was surpassed by [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] and [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]], due to the former's greater industrial capability and connections to Texas and the latter's connection to Chicago, rather than [[St. Louis]].  Furthermore, Atchison boosters were unable to unite on a single project, instead scattering their efforts to the southwest, west and northwest, none of which proved successful.  A proposed "Atchison and Pike's Peak" line was eventually taken over by the Union Pacific, while a speculative Atchison-Nebraska connector was eventually finished and taken over by other investors.  Bickering delayed the building of bridges, stockyards, elevators, warehouses and railroad yards, revealing the disharmony that plagued Atchison's entrepreneurs.<ref>George L. Anderson, "Atchison, 1865&ndash;1886, Divided and Uncertain," ''Kansas Historical Quarterly,'' 1969, Vol. 35 Issue 1, pp 30&ndash;45</ref>

However, with the completion of the connector to St. Joseph, which later became part of the Missouri Pacific, and the final connection to the growing AT&SF system, industrialization reached Atchison.  Grain elevators, flour mills, and a flax mill were all erected in Atchison in the late 1860s and early 1870s.  Several prominent businessmen in town lured Captain John Seaton, who operated a foundry in [[Alton, Illinois]], to town to improve the Atchison Foundry and Machine Works in 1872.  It soon began turning out decorative wrought iron fences, spiral staircases, and hitching posts for horses.<ref>{{cite web|last=Cutler|first=William|title=History of the State of Kansas|url=http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/atchison/atchison-co-p10.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030508201847/http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/atchison/atchison-co-p10.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 May 2003|access-date=13 December 2012}}</ref>  The foundry expanded quickly, as Seaton transported his entire Alton operation to Atchison to establish the Seaton Foundry.  It employed over 200 men and had a payroll of more than $14,000 per month in 1872.  Expanding rapidly in the coming years, it was known as Seaton Lea for most of the 1870s, becoming the Atchison Foundry and Machine Works in 1880.  A branch location was constructed in [[Lincoln, Nebraska]] in 1881, but closed in 1887.  In 1905, the Locomotive Finished Materials Company was established by Harry E. Muchnic, formerly of the AT&SF railroad, which produced finished materials for the construction of railroad locomotives in close conjunction with Seaton's foundry.  The companies eventually merged in 1914 after the 1912 death of John Seaton.

After his arrival in 1872, John Seaton became one of the leading citizens of Atchison.  Besides establishing the foundry which became the center of the town's industry, he also owned the local theater, served on the school board, was elected to the Kansas Legislature in 1889, served on the Kansas Penitentiary Board, and was nominated for Governor of Kansas.  He died on January 12, 1912. {{Citation needed|date=July 2012}}

In 1914, Harry Muchnic invented a revolutionary diesel locomotive piston ring. In 1924 the John Seaton Foundry built an electric arc melting furnace for efficient smelting. In 1924 Atchison began the transition from iron to steel which paved the transition from steam locomotives to diesel locomotives. The first steel locomotive truck assembly was designed, cast, and assembled in 1934. In 1938 LFM was making 18 locomotive assemblies every day for General Motors-Electric Motive Division (EMD) and continued to be a key supplier of components to EMD.

In 1958 Rockwell purchased the LFM Steel Foundry to make locomotive trucks for EMD and GM (Progress Rail). Rockwell's Transit Truck Design Group was established in 1960. Rockwell Manufacturing and Rockwell International were the owners from 1956 to 1993 and they renamed the LFM to Atchison Casting Corporation (ACC) in 1991. Atchison Casting became a publicly held corporation in 1994. ACC bought the Old Canadian Steel Foundry in [[Montreal, Canada]] from Hawker Siddeley in 1995. The foundry has primarily become a producer of rail transport components, including commuter rail truck frames for commuter rail systems in San Francisco, [[Chicago]], [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]], and [[Washington, D.C.]]  It has also undergone various mergers, reorganizations, and renamings, most recently after it was purchased by [[Bradken]], a global manufacturing company headquartered in Australia.{{Citation needed|date=July 2012}}