William M. Gibbons

Who was William M. Gibbons?

William M. Gibbons was a lawyer for 28 years, and would become the receiver and trustee of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad during the Rock Islands third and final bankruptcy. He was chosen receiver and trustee March 17, 1975, the day the Rock Island entered receivership for the bankruptcy, and he and the Kansas City Terminal Railway would be the power to oversee, and liquidate the entire railroad. His last day as the receiver and trustee was June 1, 1984, after all of the Rock Island's locomotives, cars, tracks and trackage rights were sold, dismantled and sold, or abandoned under an Interstate Commerce Commission directed service order. Gibbons was able to raise $500 million in the liquidation, paying off all the railroad's creditors with interest.

At the time, the Rock Island Railroad liquidation was the largest railroad company liquidation in United States history.