St. Elmo grew from the earlier settlement of Howard's Point, a hamlet that depended on the National Road until residents shifted to more promising places such as railroad stations. In 1882, contractors Johnston Bros. & Fraight surveyed a rail line linking central and southern Illinois with its northern terminus at St. Elmo, but after railroad bonds failed and a new line was surveyed, construction began in 1895 with St. Elmo left off the route. Already a station on the east-west Vandalia line, the city responded by investing in a roundhouse, rail, and right-of-way, and within months built a connection to the new Chicago, Paducah and Memphis Railroad. St. Elmo later added an aviation chapter when Smith Aviation Field, established in 1926, hosted air exhibitions, stunt flights, wing walkers, parachute jumps, and visits by Charles Lindbergh, then became especially valuable to petroleum executives during the city's oil boom in the late 1930s.