At great expense, railroad bypassed first black-founded town in the U.S.(2010)
news.illinois.edu
news.illinois.edu
Railroad: We want to build a new railroad through town. You'll have to demolish 37 houses and move the main square and the church. Sound okay?
Town: Are you gonna pay us to do this? Will you give us new land elsewhere? Will this railroad take business away from our main trade of making carts and road wagons?
Railroad: Fine, we'll just build elsewhere.
In those days a small deviation to not bulldoze the main square would've been very easy and reasonable (with plenty of land), a huge deviation like described, a huge waste of resources.