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Reflections On The Interurban Era
William D. Middleton

Most of us look back at—and some of us remember—the interurban era fondly. But as almost everyone does in looking at the past, there is a tendency to look at the electric interurban railways through a lens of nostalgia and perhaps with a little wishful thinking.

I have been as guilty as any on that score. I call this the "Disneyfication" of history. We romanticize life in that era. It was a time when family values were strong, the American work ethic was firmly in place, and everyone dressed nicely. Interurbans provided convenient, friendly service that brought people together, and all was right with the world.

Well, that's well and good. But I want to try to look at the interurbans in a very different way.
What did the interurbans really represent to the people of their time?
How did they affect and improve people's lives?
What lasting effect—if any—did they have on how our country grew and developed?

As much as I can, I've set out to do this through the words and thoughts of people of that time.

If I can simplify greatly, I think that the development of transportation infrastructure can be looked at in two ways:

First, it is a shaper of new growth and development. The transcontinental railroad is a good example; its construction provided the transportation framework that made the development of the West possible.

Second, it is a response to existing needs that are unmet, or that are met in a better way. By doing so, of course, it also becomes a shaper of growth and development. An example might be the completion of the Shore Line railroad route along the Rhode Island and Connecticut coast between New York and Boston in an area that was already well developed. In this case the railroad provided a faster and more economical transportation service than the coastal steamers it replaced. This improved transportation service, in addition to displacing the steamships, stimulated further growth and development.

The interurbans, in almost every case, fall into the second category. They usually competed with—and supplemented—the steam railroads. But quite often they also provided service where none had been available before.

The interurbans competed with the steam railroads most effectively for local and short-haul traffic, typically offering lower fares and providing more frequent and regular service. Let's look at a few examples from pre–World War I timetables for two Indiana interurbans.

For travel between Indianapolis and Louisville the principal steam railroad—the Pennsylvania Railroad—offered five daily round-trips, while an interurban—the Indianapolis & Louisville Traction Company—operated eleven daily round-trips, with the further convenience that the interurbans operated on very regular schedules.

The interurban service was most advantageous for the small towns along the route. Sellersburg had a choice of only two daily round-trips on the Pennsylvania Railroad, while Scottsburg had four and Seymour had five. Travelers to or from all three cities, however, could choose from among eleven daily interurban round-trips.

Between Indianapolis and Terre Haute the principal steam railroad—the Vandalia Line—operated eight daily round-trips, while the interurban—the Terre Haute, Indianapolis & Eastern Traction Company—operated twelve daily round-trips, with a local train scheduled almost every hour during the day. The interurban offered an even greater advantage for travelers to and from the small towns along the route. Brazil and Greencastle each had seven daily Vandalia Line round-trips, while the interurban offered twelve. For residents of Cartersburg and Reelsville the greater convenience of the interurban schedules was even more pronounced. The two towns each had only one daily train on the Vandalia Line, while the interurban offered no less than seven daily round-trips.

In a wonderful article for McClure's Magazine in 1903, Samuel E. Moffett wrote of this convenience: "Go, for instance, to Indianapolis, and take a spin of fifty-three miles to Muncie over the lines of the Union Traction Company. You do not have to calculate your train time by a nautical almanac. You can go at any hour of the day."1

The interurbans typically offered, too, cleaner and more comfortable trains than the steam lines. In a 1907 series about the success of the new interurban railways, Chicago Tribune writer Raymond commented: "When the habit of traveling by trolley is once firmly established one wonders that the nuisances of the steam roads were ever submitted to. The electric line is the perfection of traveling—at least for short distances. There is a freedom from dirt and cinders and one feels nearer the country through which he travels than on the steam road."2

Moffett also said this of the comforts of modern interurban cars: "Travel on a line so equipped is pleasanter than on a steam road, for the breezes can be allowed to blow through without fear of smoke or cinders, and the surrounding scenery is infinitely more attractive. A trolley road can penetrate the most exquisite retreats without spoiling their charm—a steam road has the faculty of making everything it touches hopelessly vulgar and hideous."3

Moffett attributed a decline of twelve million railroad passengers in seven years to the competition of electric railways. "Inch by inch the field is contested," he wrote, "and slowly, sullenly, the locomotive is giving way before the insistent trolley. A dozen years ago it was only the car horse and the cable in the towns that were threatened by electric traction. Then the trolley poked an inquiring tentacle over the city limits into the suburbs. The results were satisfactory, and swiftly the electric lines flung their spider filaments from town to town, until now great sections of the country are cobwebbed with them. . . . Certainly the locomotive is doomed on local lines; . . . and the question whether it can hold its own anywhere is the most hotly debated problem now agitating the transportation world."4

It was also argued that much of the traffic attracted by the interurbans was new business, resulting from the low cost and frequency of interurban service, its greater accessibility in small towns and rural areas, and the greater convenience of interurban lines that entered the heart of town over streetcar tracks.
It probably was both.

The evidence suggests that—wherever they operated—the interurbans had an appreciable effect on the nature and quality of small-town life. Offering lower fares and more frequent and convenient service, they provided an improved mobility to small-town residents and businesses.

The interurban made it much easier to travel to larger cities, where better selections of goods and services were available. "The proprietors of the big department stores in Indianapolis and Cincinnati say that they have almost doubled their trade since the introduction of the interurban system of travel," commented a Chicago Tribune writer in a 1907 series.5

At the same time, interurban express services made it easier for small-town merchants to stock a wider variety of goods and perishables. "Curiously enough the local stores of the small villages have not lost any custom as the result of the traveling habit induced by the interurban cars," reported the Chicago Tribune. "These village stores have found it simple to increase their stocks, and have slowly but surely met the competition of the city stores by increasing the variety of their own supply. . . . Villages where perishable goods simply could not be had ten years ago are now supplied with fruit and vegetables as a matter of course, and the express compartments on the electric cars radiating from such a market point as Indianapolis are frequently loaded with cantaloupes from Colorado and watermelons from Georgia."6

The new mobility afforded by the interurbans broadened cultural and entertainment opportunities. The electric railways developed resorts and amusement parks as a means of generating new traffic. Sightseeing by trolley became a popular pastime, and many lines published guides to the sights in their area.

Typical of interurban railway promotional service were the "Theater Specials" that were operated into Toledo and Cleveland by Ohio's Lake Shore Electric Railway, which featured meals and entertainment on the car. Chicago's North Shore Line ran "Grand Opera Specials" during the Chicago opera season. The Michigan United Railway offered cut-rate vaudeville tickets with a round-trip ticket. The Cleveland & Southwestern Railway organized a baseball trolley league among six on-line towns. All of this helped to enrich small-town life.