Bloomington Pontiac & Joliet

BP&J car "Dwight" with a flat car in tow. The BP&J's cars had streetcar styling, but from their size they were unmistakably interurban cars. All photos are from the Stephen Scalzo Collection and are the property of the Illinois Railway Museum.

The Bloomington Pontiac & Joliet

by Stephen M. Scalzo

The Bloomington Pontiac & Joliet Electric Railway was chartered by the state on December 20, 1902 with $100,000 of capital. The company was organized by a group of Pontiac men, led by J.A. Carothers, president of the Pontiac Light and Water Company, and Fred L. Lucas, and built with local capital. It was the intention of the new company to build an interurban from Bloomington to Joliet to connect those terminals with other interurban lines, but in reality the line was never extended beyond Pontiac and Dwight. The designers planned to make a substantial savings by using the novel system of high-voltage alternating current to operate the system.

BP&J car "Dwight" not long after it was delivered from the American factory in St. Louis

Construction began in 1904, with trackage being built and poles being installed for 10.4 miles from Pontiac through Cayuga to Odell. A very crude and simple catenary overhead system was installed, with separate northbound and southbound trolley wires into which 3300 volt, 25 cycle electricity was supplied. During September, the Pontiac city council protested that the company was not replacing street bricks between the rails within the town. Construction continued during the winter of 1904-1905. The car barn was constructed on the northeast edge of Pontiac near the Spartan foundry, the J.P. McMurry Canning Company, and the old coal mine that was located next to the Illinois Central, Wabash, and Alton Railroad tracks. The main office of the company was at 221 West Washington Street in Pontiac.

BP&J car 201, formerly the "Dwight," location and date unknown

The first interurban, named the Dwight, arrived on February 3, 1905, and the second interurban, named the Pontiac, arrived on July 19th. The first interurban operated over the completed trackage between north Pontiac and Odell on March 15th. However there was a problem in trying to get the Illinois Central and Wabash steam railroads to allow for the construction of a crossing with the interurban on the north side of Pontiac. On March 24th, the city council created a right-of-way from Wabash Avenue across the Wabash tracks so that the interurban could get a crossing, and on April 23rd a crowd rode the first interurban into downtown Pontiac to the southern terminus at the northwest corner of the reformatory. Afterward eight daily interurban trains were operated between Pontiac and Odell.

BP&J car 202, the "Pontiac," at the end of the line in its namesake city.

By 1906 the remaining eight miles of trackage had been completed into Dwight. The line was graded and culverts installed from Pontiac south beyond Chenoa, but the trackage was never installed. A city streetcar was acquired for use on the two mile city line through Pontiac to the reformatory. Later two old elevated railway trailers were obtained. Traffic was heavy in the early years, as dusty paths served as the only roads. Excursions, especially for picnics or for the Chautauqua in Pontiac, were common. A dance hall at Interurban Park near Odell attracted many persons. Competition came from the Chicago & Alton Railroad which operated 13 daily steam passenger trains through Pontiac, and the Illinois Central and Wabash which each operated four trains.

BP&J car 201, formerly the "Dwight," northbound at Main and Madison in Pontiac.

A few years later the company was sold to the Fisher Syndicate in Joliet. On March 1, 1913, the company was again sold along with the other Pontiac utilities for $750,000 to the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois, which became a part of the Insull empire. Because of electrical problems, the company changed to a 600 volt direct current operation around 1915. During the fall of 1915, a new route was constructed north out of Pontiac. A blizzard on January 12-13, 1918, accompanied with 20 degree below zero temperatures and 20 foot snow drifts, closed down interurban service for several days, isolating Pontiac.

The traffic potential of the company was very limited, and confined to passenger service which operated with two hour headways. Highway construction and World War I inflation squeezed the company. In June 1920 the Illinois Public Utilities Commission granted the company permission to increase fares to three cents a mile; however another ruling by the commission provided that tickets had to be sold for 2.5 cents a mile. In early 1921, the company petitioned for a three cent a mile fare regardless of a ticket sale or cash fare, with permission being given on February 1st.

BP&J car 202 is in Pontiac, southbound on Main turning west onto Washington, in 1910. It is towing one of the ex-New York elevated trailers. The courthouse to the left is still there.

That action did little to resolve the financial problems of the company, and by 1924 only 21,000 passengers were carried compared to 154,000 in 1919. In Pontiac, the Vermillion Street bridge was opened to automobile traffic, and as passenger traffic continued to decline, the company began operating at a loss. On August 19, 1925, the company asked permission from the state to abandon service, and after permission was granted on November 24th, the last interurban operated on November 25, 1925. The system was later dismantled for scrap and the equipment burned.

This history was written by the late Stephen M. Scalzo and was edited and laid out by Frank Hicks. Thanks go to Ray and Julie Piesciuk and to Richard Schauer for maintaining the Scalzo collection and making these materials available for republishing.

Bloomington Pontiac & Joliet Equipment Roster

201
Built 1905 by American Car Company on ord#569 as Dwight
Length 41'8" - Weight 58,000 lbs - 40 seats - Brill 27E1 trucks - 4 x GE 604 motors - T33 control
Fitted for AC or DC operation

202
Built 1904 as a demonstrator for the St. Louis World's Fair (builder unknown), delivered in 1905 as Pontiac

251-252
Thirdhand Manhattan Railway elevated trailers built c1880 and purchased in 1908 from unknown intermediary
Length ~45' - Weight 16,000 lbs - 40 seats

301
Built 1895 by American Car Company for Citizens Railway of St. Louis
Sold to United Railways, resold 1906 to Chicago Union Traction as CUT 3866
Purchased by BP&J in 1913
Length 36'2" - 36 seats - St Louis 21 trucks - 2 x WH 56 motors - K-11 control

A freight motor was also purchased in 1908 but there is no solid information on it.

A single-truck city car numbered 33 built by McGuire-Cummings in 1912 was leased from the Public Service company's Streator lines in 1921 but was soon returned.

One of the ex-Manhattan Railway elevated cars survived as a shed in a backyard in Pontiac at least as late as the mid-1940s. McLean County Museum of History photo.

Click here for a Bloomington Pontiac & Joliet route map

Click to return to the Stephen Scalzo History Collection