McPike worked for the Illinois Central Railroad Company form 1894 to 1938, was an author in the history of 17th century astronomy and family history and was an elected member of the Royal Society of London. In 1938 McPike retired and moved from Chicago, Illinois, to San Diego, California.

Eugene Fairfield McPike was born to Henry Guest McPike and Nannie Lyon on July 18, 1870 in Alton, Illinois. In 1887, he moved to Chicago and later began work for the Illinois Central railroad company in 1894. He worked in their traffic department until Jul 16, 1906 when he was appointed as a refrigerator service agent. In 1908, while still working for the Illinois Central, he began his service as secretary of the American Railway Perishable Freight Association, which position he held until 1919. In 1910, he attended the Second International Congress of Refrigeration in Vienna, Austria as the U.S. delegate. On January 1, 1912, McPike assumed the duties of the manager of the perishable freight service for the Illinois Central and from 1918-1920, he was a member of the National Committee compiling the Perishable Protective Tariff. McPike’s first wife, Ada Florence Denton, died in Chicago on Nov. 25, 1918. Later, McPike married Mary Julia Wall Dillingham (daughter of Albert Dillingham and Julia Nettie Wall of Indianapolis, Indiana) on Dec. 25, 1932. For McPike, the 1930s was a busy decade. During these years, he prepared and published two important works in the history of astronomy: Hevelius, Flamsteed and Halley: Three Contemporary Astronomers and Their Mutual Relations (London: Taylor and Francis, 1937), and Correspondence and Papers of Edmond Halley (London: Taylor and Francis, 1937). In March 1938, McPike retired from the railroad business and moved to San Diego in the same year. After several years of illness, McPike died at home on August 21, 1946.