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Interurbans
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In 1916, you didn’t need a horse to tour most of the Midwest. Interurbans… on this Moment of Indiana History.
Made
up of one or two cars and powered by electricity, “interurbans”—also
called electric railways—were once the cause of a wild but short-lived
mania all over America, and Indiana was the heart of the industry. Indiana
Congressman Charles L. Henry—whose Union Traction Company ran one
of the first electric cars in the state—coined the term interurban.
Indiana’s 1,825 miles of interurban track was second in the country
only to Ohio.
With names like Marion Flyer, Kokomo Traveler, Muncie Meteor, Hoosierland, and Ben Hur, the little trains carried mail, school children, sports teams, honeymooners, and even funeral parties.
Financially unsound business plans and the arrival of both the city bus and the automobile stopped the interurban in its tracks by the mid 1930s. Only one electric line is still in operation today, the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad.
This Moment of Indiana History is a production of the Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations in association with the Indiana Historical Society. More information is available on-line at “moment of Indiana history.org.
(Photo Credit: Bass Photo Co. Collection, Indiana Historical Society)
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