I always mildly wondered who Billy Bryan was and why a street off West Sycamore was named after him. According to A History of the St. Louis Division and Carbondale IL, he was a brakeman and later conductor on the Illinois Central railroad, specifically the branch that ran from Cairo through East Cape, Murphysboro, Carbondale to Johnson City. So well liked and well known was he that the train he worked on became know as the "Billy Bryan". Bryan worked for the IC from likely the 1870s until his retirement in 1909, though the train that ran that route was known as the Billy Bryan until it stopped running in April of 1933.
If you want to pick up a copy of the book, it is available at the Station Carbondale Museum for $10
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