The interurban era

The Jewett Car Company was born in the heyday of the electric railway boom in the 1890s. The company gained an excellent reputation for its elegant, well-built wooden cars for street railway companies, interurban lines, and rapid transit service. Cities large and small used Jewett cars, including New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. Many Jewett cars found their way to Indiana and many of the interurban lines employed the graceful, arch-windowed wood interurban that Jewett was famous for.Automobile competition and the problems of competing with much larger car builders, such as J.G. Brill and the St. Louis Car Company, signaled the beginning of the end. The company was offered the opportunity to produce munitions for World War I, but refused. The reason: the major source of finance for Jewett was a German nationalist banker from Wheeling, West Virginia, who refused to have the company do anything to harm Germany. As a direct result of that action, the Jewett Car Company failed.

Michigan Railway Company: The Northern and Southern Divisions, the first comprehensive history of the Michigan United Railway Company, traces the rise and fall of Michigan’s most significant electric railway. This volume covers the company’s founding in local rail-based public transportation systems in Lansing, Jackson, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, and Owosso-Corunna and ends with its eventual demise, abandoned prior to the stock market crash of 1929. Norman L. Krentel follows the fragments of lines in lower Michigan, which came together to form the MUR. He examines the interurban lines, which were broken down into five divisions, each with a separate superintendent. These divisions were Northern and Southern, which had formerly been Michigan United Railways; Northwestern, which had been Grand Rapids, Holland, and Chicago Railway; Western; and Northeastern. This also explores how electric railway history is intertwined with the state of Michigan. The interurban electric rail system supported automobile manufacturing, allowing for the shipment of parts supplies, and finished automobiles through Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. Major auto plants like REO and Oldsmobile had rail sidetracks served by Michigan Railway’s interurban freight trains. Electric railway history is thus an essential, previously overlooked factor in Michigan’s industrial development.

“A well-written social history of the shortest-lived major US transportation mode” from the railway historian and author of A Mighty Fine Road (Choice). One of the most intriguing yet neglected pieces of American transportation history, electric interurban railroads were designed to assist shoppers, salesmen, farmers, commuters, and pleasure-seekers alike with short distance travel. At a time when most roads were unpaved and horse and buggy travel were costly and difficult, these streetcar-like electric cars were essential to economic growth. But why did interurban fever strike so suddenly and extensively in the Midwest and other areas? Why did thousands of people withdraw their savings to get onto what they believed to be a “gravy train?” How did officials of competing steam railroads respond to these challenges to their operations? H. Roger Grant explores the rise and fall of this fleeting form of transportation that started in the early 1900s and was defunct just 30 years later. Perfect for railfans, Electric Interurbans and the American People is a comprehensive contribution for those who love the flanged wheel. “With this book, the subject no longer has footnote status. In fact, Grant’s work deserves a place alongside some of the other landmark surveys of the subject . . . Here, Grant moves beyond the receiverships, the rickety track, and all that fascinating rolling stock. He shows us why the whole darned thing mattered.” —Railroad History “H. Roger Grant has produced a fine social history of America’s electric interurbans, exploring the relationship between people and those railway enterprises. The book fills a void, is eminently readable, and richly illustrated.” —Don L. Hofsommer, author of Off the Main Lines