Page 1 2
Download full essay

A key factor for Indianapolis businesses was the larger labor catchment area that was available as the interurban lines began to serve the city and spread out in all directions, thus expanding the commuter shed. The fact that there was more competition among job seekers meant that employers did not have to offer higher wages to attract workers. A wider catchment area also meant that there was a larger pool of specialized laborers available to Indianapolis businesses than otherwise would have been the case.

The interurbans had a definite impact on the development of suburbs and what eventually became urban sprawl. The desire for better and more spacious housing led to the development of suburban areas and satellite towns. These developments on the outskirts of the city provided residents with spacious, high-quality, low-cost housing and access to the city through the local street railway and interurbans.

The economic impact of the interurbans was stimulated by the larger market area reached by the electric cars—businesses served a larger area due to the interurbans’ ease of travel, retailers enjoyed patronage from a larger customer base, and major department stores chose Indianapolis sites. Large structures were built in the period between 1900 and 1910 to house full-service stores, such as L. S. Ayres and the William H. Block Company, where customers enjoyed the advantages of better products and services at lower prices. The large market created by the interurban also expanded the need for professionals in medicine, law, and education. The breadth of the market and the broad economic base that evolved in Indianapolis made the city and its region less susceptible to severe economic ups and downs.

There was a downside to the influence of the interurbans insofar as the regional economy was concerned. In local areas there was reasonable concern that Indianapolis-based chains might dominate at least a part of the economy of satellite cities and towns.

Another potential negative was the development of suburbs. The classic suburb, which was linked by public transportation to a major center, used land with reasonable efficiency. However, the classic suburb was a forerunner for the eventual urban sprawl of the early twenty-first century since it created an appetite for living in outlying areas. The close connection of public transportation to the urban center was particularly susceptible to competition from the automobile. Eventually the sprawled suburb, a product of the automobile and the highway, came to be the principal form of development around Indianapolis and across the nation.

In 1890 the population of Indianapolis was 105,436. By 1900 it had risen to 169,164. Ten years later the census showed 233,650 residents in the Hoosier capital.2 Growth in the community was also reflected in interurban railway patronage. The traction terminal kept figures on the number of persons coming and going on the interurban cars:

1904—3,251,522
1905—3,839,706
1906—4,418,034
1907—4,977,295
1908—4,901,384
1909—5,064,210
1910—5,618,946
1911—6,279,8223

It was projected that by 1913 the traction terminal might handle ten million arrivals and departures.4 Obviously, these people were not simply tourists but were customers and employees.

By one estimate, over a period of six years following the opening of the traction terminal, average annual business income in Indianapolis went up 40 percent, and the city’s wholesale trade increased by 15 to 20 percent. Freight business was increasing rapidly; four million gallons of milk and cream and an estimated 100,000 tons of freight were brought into the city by the interurban electric railways in 1908. Freight moved by interurbans in 1909 equaled 174,000 tons. The United States Express Company provided much of the service, offering pickup and delivery service for the interurbans. It was typical during this period for merchants in outlying towns to phone in orders to wholesalers in Indianapolis and have the merchandise delivered that afternoon or by the next day, thanks to the speedy interurban freight service.

The types of freight moved by the interurbans were typical of the time. Major items included dry goods, furniture, carpets, shoes, clothing, and hardware. While the population within the Indianapolis city limits was 246,000 in 1910, it was estimated that the interurbans, along with the steam railroads, created a regional shopping center serving two million people.5

In 1913 visitors by interurban outnumbered city shoppers by two to one. Between 1900 and 1913, the traveling population on interurbans had increased 1.700 percent; at the same time there was no decrease in traffic on the steam railroads. In 1913 a daily average of 9,000 persons based on 17,573 departures and arrivals used the traction terminal.6

The influence of the interurbans was extensive but transient. By 1910 increased automotive traffic on the highways was beginning. In 1912, a time in which interurbans were improving their rights-of-way, buying additional cars, and adding modern signal systems, it was noted that no new interurban lines were being built into Indianapolis. This marked a turning point. Although the interurban electric railways continued to play a relatively significant role into the 1920s, the system’s doom was sealed by the Model T, the highway, and the effectiveness of the automobile and the truck.

Notes

1. Jacob Piatt Dunn, Greater Indianapolis: The History, the Industries, the Institutions, and the People of a City of Homes, 2 vols. (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1910), 1:339.
2. Indianapolis Star, 3 Jan. 1913.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid., 3 Jan. 1910.
6. Ibid., 19 Mar. 1913.