Streetcars of Bloomington and Normal
By Stephen M. Scalzo
Headline image: A Bloomington Birney on the Miller Park line is shown southbound on Center about to turn west on Washington in 1925. All photos are from the Stephen Scalzo Collection at the Illinois Railway Museum except where noted.
Part I. History
Part II. Remembrances
Part III. Equipment Roster
Part IV. Timetable
Part V. Route Map
Part V. Route Map
Part I: History
Bloomington, Illinois, besides being the county seat for McLean County, is the commercial center for a rich agricultural district. It is located in the geographical center of Illinois, midway between Chicago and St. Louis on two trunk railroad lines. Normal, Illinois, adjoining Bloomington, is the location of Illinois State University.
The Bloomington & Normal Horse Railway Company was incorporated on February 19, 1865, by a group of public-spirited men,. The prime object was to furnish some kind of public transportation between Bloomington and Normal. The resident and student populations of Normal were isolated from the business community of Bloomington by a distance of five miles. There were no paved streets and for several months each year the roads were almost impassable. The initial line was built as a matter of civic enterprise and not primarily as a money-making project.
The construction of the five-mile line using 25-pound rail between the courthouse in Bloomington and the Normal university campus began in May of 1867, and the cost of the original construction was $60,000. The first excursion operated over the trackage on September 6, 1867, and regular service began on September 12th. Asa H. Moore, then Superintendent of the Chicago & Alton Railroad, purchased the project in 1868. Service began on September 22, 1868, with trips every 30 minutes between 7:00am and 10:00pm with a five-cent fare or six tickets for 25 cents. Two steam dummies were used to haul passenger cars over the streets in Normal. Fares were five cents locally and 10 cents between the two towns. The ultimate terminals were on Grove Street in Bloomington, with a branch on West Chestnut to the Alton Railroad depot constructed in 1883, and the Chicago & Alton-Illinois Central Railroad depot in Normal.
An 1869 stock certificate for the incongruously named Bloomington & Normal Horse Railway, complete with an illustration of one of the steam dummy locomotives.
The puffing little engines soon created complaints, with the trail of black smoke, shrill whistles, noise, and dirt. In 1867, the Bloomington city council ordered use of the engines stopped within the city limits. A big barn was built at University and Park Streets to house mules, and at that point the mules took over for the steam dummies for the final run into downtown Bloomington. However, in 1868, the engines did not prove to be profitable, and mules replaced the steam dummies after Normal residents objected.
In the early years, the company did freight business, hauling cars of wheat from the Alton Railroad down a spur built from Main Street to the Novelty Flour Mills at Market and East Streets. It was determined that the grades between Bloomington and Normal were too steep for practical use. Freight cars were hauled by mules as well as by the steam dummies, but the practice had to be given up. The steam dummies were finally removed from service in June 1872, and the freight business ceased in 1873.
An open horsecar stands with a large company of car men on Main Street in front of the courthouse, likely sometime in the 1880s or 1890s.
A potential rival, the Bloomington Fairground & Driving Park Railway, incorporated on March 4, 1869, with $50,000 of capital, failed to obtain a franchise. By 1880 the company was operating three miles of trackage with six horsecars and 32 mules. In 1881, a line was constructed on Chestnut Street from Main Street to the Chicago & Alton Railroad depot, and horsecars operated every hour and each half-hour, making the round trip every 30 minutes. On May 18, 1883, a switch was installed to complete the Chestnut Street line. In 1883, another line was constructed from Main Street along Front Street to Robinson, south to Grove, and then east to the Illinois Central Railroad depot. By 1885, the C&A depot had been moved to Washington Street and during that year a line was built west on Washington from Main Street to the depot. By 1887, the company was operating five miles of trackage with 19 horsecars and 90 mules. Mud was a constant problem in winter, with a snowplow having to be used to clear the tracks so the mules could get footing.
On May 31, 1888, the company was purchased by an eastern syndicate headed by Senator William H. Patterson of Pennsylvania. On September 1st, the Bloomington City Railway was formed. Several extensions were built. The Miller Park line ran on Allen Street from Washington Street to Miller Park; the Center Street line ran from Chestnut Street north to Seminary and west to Mason at the C&A tracks; the Clinton Loop west east on Walnut, south on Clinton, west on Front, and north on Main; and South Main Street ran from the depot to Lincoln Street. In 1889 the tracks on Robinson Street south from Front Street were removed and rebuilt on Robinson Street north from Front to Washington Streets, then east to Towanda Street.
The first steps toward electrification were made in July of 1889 when financing was arranged, and the system was deeded in trust to the Guarantee Safe Deposit Company of Philadelphia to guarantee the issuance of $600,000 in bonds, payable in 20 years at six percent; $100,000 first series was used to pay of Mr. Moore, $100,000 second series was used for the Daft System [of electrification] and to equip the system, and $400,000 third series (of which $227,000 were actually sold) went to build and equip extensions, etc. The remaining $173,000 third series bonds were executed and put in the hands of a trustee, but never sold.
In September, 18 streetcars were ordered. In October, work on reconstructing the tracks began, and the entire system was relaid with heavier 70- and 72-pound rail. The carbarn at Park Street and Virginia Avenue was enlarged; the two main brick buildings held 21 and 18 streetcars respectively, with a small office building and an oil house. The Leo Daft Electric Company system was installed at a cost of $50,000 by the United Electric Traction Company of New York City, with a small power plant being constructed next to the carbarn at University and McLean Streets.
This Sanborn fire insurance map shows the car barn at the southeast corner of Park and Riley (later renamed University). North is to the left.
This view from around 1900 is looking southeast from the corner of Park and University, with the office in the left foreground and a single-truck car emerging from the car barn.
Electric streetcars began operating on May 17, 1890; only two streetcars had trucks and the other eight streetcars were unable to operate for some time. A trial streetcar trip was made at 6:00am, and at 5:00pm a streetcar made four trips from the courthouse to the Union Depot. The small four-wheel yellow streetcars made nearly as much noise as a saw mill, and that brought out a larger crowd of onlookers than a circus parade or fair. Two trolley wires were installed, supplying 220 volts of electricity. That power was insufficient and the streetcars could hardly move. The system proved unsatisfactory after many trials, and it was abandoned. Mule cars returned on September 1st, and by 1891 the system had grown to 11 miles of trackage with 25 horsecars and 90 mules. In 1892, the company became one of the first to adopt electric traction equipped with Westinghouse apparatus. One trolley were was used, with 500 volts of electricity. That proved to be a more satisfactory electric system because the streetcars worked, and the mule cars were replaced. In 1893, the system carried 998,723 passengers. In 1894 the company was operating two "Short" and nine "Westinghouse" streetcars.
Car 37 was one of the early electric cars used following adoption of the Westinghouse system. It may be one of the cars listed as built by St. Louis in 1891. It's shown here c1895.
During this period, three more unbuilt systems were projected. The Citizen's Street Railway was organized in June of 1891 with $25,000 of capital, but after failing to obtain a franchise it disbanded. The Citizen's Railway was incorporated in May of 1892 with $100,000 of capital with backing from Westinghouse. The Bloomington Traction Railway & Electric Company was incorporated in May of 1895 with $75,000 of capital.
Operating expenses were about $22,000 per year and income was between $54,000 and $60,000 per year. A large number of passengers were carried and the company seemed to the public to be doing a good business. By 1898, the company earned $34,241, but financial difficulties followed. In 1897, the company defaulted on the first mortgage bonds, both principal and interest. After being unable to resolve the problem after one year, a received was requested, but by agreement the matter dragged through the courts. The company was sold at foreclosure on May 31, 1898, for $202,500 to a local syndicate headed by A.E. DeMange. On June 17th, the Bloomington & Normal Railway Company was organized to operate the system, which consisted of 11 miles of trackage and 30 streetcars. The system was entirely single track with passing sidings. During 1898, the Main Street line was double-tracked from Front to Jefferson Street, and the Washington Street and South Main Street lines were rebuilt. In 1899, the Front Street line was extended east along Washington Street from Towanda to Vale, then south to Grove. After the historic and disastrous fire which swept Bloomington in 1900, the company moved its offices to the Unity Building. On July 7, 1900, the first streetcar operated to the grandstand at the fairgrounds. In July, work began on extending the South Main Street line from Lincoln Avenue to Houghton Lake, and on September 29th streetcar service was extended over the completed trackage. By 1901, the company had 20 miles of first track and three miles of second track over which were operated 19 closed and 13 open streetcars.
An unidentified single-trucker is on the east side of Courthouse Square on June 25, 1900, one week after a fire tore through downtown Bloomington, leveling more than five city blocks and 45 buildings.
By 1902, earnings had increased to $57,699 with 1,869,343 passengers. On February 11th, the Town of Normal adopted two separate ordinances, one for the First Street and Franklin Avenue line, and another for the Beauford, Linden, Lincoln, School, Willow, Normal, Mulberry, and School Streets line. On July 7, 1902, an ordinance was adopted by the Normal town council granting the Beauford and First Street line. During 1902 the Normal Loop line and the Fell Avenue line were built, a subway replaced the grade crossing with the C&A Railroad near the State Normal School, and another extension was built on Gridley Street from Front to Oakland, then east to the Illinois Central tracks. On June 1st, the Bloomington & Normal Railway Electric & Heating Company was formed with the consolidation of the Bloomington & Normal Railway, the Bloomington Electric Light Company, and the City District Heating Company. A strike by employees for several weeks in the winter of 1902 inconvenienced passengers, but it did result in some employee benefits.
Car 50 was one of two large double-truck cars purchased in 1898. The location of this shot is unknown but the car may be passing over Sugar Creek between Bloomington and Normal. The car has St. Louis 13 "Maximum Traction" trucks and hand brakes.
In 1903, the Chestnut and Center Street loop was completed down Mason Street to Walnut, then west to the C&A Railroad tracks, then south to Chestnut Street where connections were made with the existing Chestnut Street trackage. The Front Street line was looped by extending the Oakland line trackage east to Vale, then north to the existing Front Street trackage. A siding four blocks long was also constructed on Vale Street. By 1905 the company was operating 16 miles of trackage with 25 streetcars. Another strike in 1904 which lasted six months disrupted service, but was eventually beaten by the company.
Three dozen or so Bloomington-Normal car men pose in front of a couple of single-truck cars at the car barn, probably around 1910 give or take.
Evening trolley parties were popular summer entertainment for churches, clubs, and lodges. One or more open streetcars were gaily decorated with colored lights and run over most of the system on hot summer nights, with trips usually ending at some designated place were ice cream and cake would be served. When business was heavy, open streetcars without motors would be used as trailers. Two convertible streetcars were purchased, but they were not much of a success, being too complicated, and were not used very long.
One of the open cars that were so popular for summer outings was this one, likely either 54 or 55 judging from its DuPont "Maximum Traction" trucks.
On January 10, 1906, the company was sold for $1,000,000 to Hodenpyl, Waldridge & Company, which later transferred ownership to William B. McKinley, who previously had purchased the other local utility. On March 14th, the Bloomington & Normal Railway & Light Company was formed by the consolidation of the Bloomington & Normal Railway Electric & Heating Company and the Consumers Light & Heating Company of Bloomington. The old Consumers power plant was closed and the street railway power plant on Roosevelt Avenue near the center of Bloomington taken over.
Car 52, a semi-convertible purchased new in 1903, is on Washington at Main sometime early in the century.
The new owner continued to make many changes and improvements, and $675,000 was expended. The first double truck streetcars to operate in Bloomington were the first improvement. The Front Street loop was abandoned, the trackage on Oakland Street was extended to Mercer, and the track on the Front Street line was cut at Vale and Taylor. Six new pay-as-you-enter streetcars were introduced on April 9, 1906. In September, a franchise was granted permitting double tracking on Main and Front Streets in downtown Bloomington. Illinois Traction System (ITS) interurbans began using Market Street in December. On April 2, 1907, tracklaying began on the Market Street line. The original trackage on Market Street crossed the Nickel Plate Railroad, then went to Butchers Lane and south to Stillwell. The trackage was to be built to Stevensonville, but shortly thereafter the trackage was dismantled and constructed north on Hinshaw to Locust, east to Western, and then north to Seminary, being placed into service in September. Streetcar service began operating on the West Market Street line on September 15th. At the height of its activity, the company had 22 miles of trackage with 33 streetcars.
Car 70 was one of six pay-as-you-enter single-truckers built by the Danville Car Company in 1906. It's shown in operation on the Chestnut Street line.
A pair of Danville-built cars, single-trucker 92 dating to 1911 and double-trucker 80 built the year earlier, pose at the underpass under the Chicago & Alton in Normal in 1915.
On June 25, 1909, the company obtained a 20-year franchise. The Bloomington City Council, after long negotiations, made a condition of granting the franchise in that the company had to pay annually to the city 2% of its gross earnings in Bloomington for the first 10 years and 4% thereafter for 10 years (the fee was later revised to a straight payment of $5,000 per year). Another ordinance for the Courte House loop was adopted on December 17, 1909. In 1910, Bloomington had a population of 25,768, and Normal had 4,024. By 1912, earnings were $417,716 and in 1915 ridership had reached 4,335,338.
Car 96 is on the east side of the square in Bloomington, on Main just north of Washington headed north, around 1911. It's set up for two-man operation and pay-as-you-enter fare collection.
In 1917, carmen were working 9.5 hours a day, seven days a week for $1.75 per day; the urge to organize a union grew again, and in April, Local 752 of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America was secretly formed by 13 carmen. From May 28 to July 9, 1917, there was a bitter strike which required the presence of the National Guard. Luckily the confrontation with the troops and the wild scene was enough to bring both sides to the negotiating table, and a contract resulted with the union being recognized. Fares were then increased to seven cents and wages of employees were increased about 3.5 cents an hour. In 1922, 22 four-wheel Birney streetcars were placed into service in the hope of improving service. When the last Birney was received on January 5, 1924, the last double-truck streetcar was retired. However, the increased use of private automobiles and concrete highways hurt patronage.
It's July 1917, and the National Guard is encamped on the grounds of the courthouse in downtown Bloomington. On July 5th, Mary "Mother" Jones had made an impassioned speech in support of the carmen's strike, leading to a brief riot.
In July 1923 the company was acquired by the Illinois Power & Light Corporation. However, the downturn in streetcar service was apparent. On June 5, 1925, a special ordinance authorizing bus service was placed into effect until June 26, 1929. As a result, the first buses were placed into service in 1925. Fares were increased to eight cents on November 14, 1925, and to 10 cents in October 1928. The increasing use of automobiles was the reason stated for the fare increase, with 3,885,967 passengers carried in 1926 and 3,433,326 in 1927; a similar reduction in passengers had been going on for many years. The company was operating 12 routes on May 31, 1928.
Car 120 and another Birney are northbound on Main at Jefferson at the northeast corner of the square in Bloomington in 1924. Car 120 is signed for Fell Avenue service to Normal and the sign on its dash advertises "Spice of 1923" appearing at the Illini Theatre.
In January 1929, the Illinois Commerce Commission ordered reduced rates in the hope of increasing patronage with seven tickets for 50 cents and 15 tickets for one dollar, but the cash fare remaining at 10 cents. The franchise was extended by a city council ordinance from June 28, 1929, to January 1, 1930. Under the franchise, the company during the previous 20 years had paid the city $338,023.41.
An unidentified Birney signed for Park Street-Normal is eastbound on Washington, about to turn left on Main, in this winter scene likely dating to the mid- or late-1920s.
On January 22, 1930, a new ordinance, modernized to include bus regulations, became effective. On February 28, 1931, the company was authorized to abandon the Fell Avenue line and the Normal Loop line (with the exception of the trackage on North Street from the Normal School to the Illinois Central Railroad), and the trackage on Walnut Street from Park to Clinton. That reduced trackage to 17.64 miles, and then to 13.01 miles by 1935. As the Depression wore on, the streetcar system began operating at a loss.
Freshly-painted Birney 105 is northbound on Main Street at Jefferson in this 1930s photo by R.V. Mehlenbeck.
It's April 12, 1935, and Birney 115 is at the eastern end of the Bloomington city system on Oakland Avenue at Mercer. Photo by Hulin Cross.
In the fall of 1936, the Bloomington-Normal City Lines purchased the company, with the provision that buses replace streetcars as soon as possible. The Illinois Power & Light Company donated all remaining trackage, ties, bricks, ballast and wire, steel poles, and two acres of land used for turnaround space to the city of Bloomington. After abandonment of streetcar service, IPL agreed to remove all frogs and switches and to pay $18,000 (salvage value) cash to be relieved of its franchise obligation in Bloomington. In Normal, IPS paid the town $1,500 in cash on the franchise rights, with $1,000 annual payments for the six years that contract had to run. In addition, Normal was given a bill of sale for all of the right-of-way property (ties, rail, etc.) and the title of the subway under the Alton & Southern tracks near Franklin Avenue.
On November 15, 1936, Birney car 116 is shown at the western end of the Washington Street line at the Chicago & Alton depot after changing ends to head back to the square. The streetcars have just about one month left.
The decrepit appearance of car 112, pictured in December 1936 at the end of the streetcar era in Bloomington, is a fitting tribute to the decline in the system's fortunes.
On December 2, 1936, the company was authorized to abandon the remaining system, and the last streetcar operated on December 14th. Afterward, except for the interurban trackage owned and operated by the Illinois Terminal Railroad, the streetcar overhead was removed for scrap and the remaining streetcars scrapped. All of the remaining unused streetcar trackage was removed by a Works Progress Administration project.
This article was edited and laid out by Frank Hicks. Thanks are due to Ray and Julie Piesciuk and to Richard Schauer for making the text of this article, as well as photographs and additional materials, available for publishing here.
Part II: Remembrances
"The Neighbors are Talking"
from the Lincoln News, May 16, 1892
Bloomington has the worst street car system in the world. In fact, it has no system, only symptoms of one.
Every newspaper in the city is howling about them. The people curse them and altogether they have begun a merry war on them.
The cars look like a line of tugboats on the Illinois River at Havanna and they come down the street like a threshing machine attached to a steam engine. They are painted the color of canned salmon put up Jersey Style and they ride like a wheelbarrow.
They jump the track every hour and if too many people get in them, they get stuck.
If you live in Bloomington and jump in to go home for supper you are liable to get there in time for breakfast and your mother will sit up all night and sing, "Oh Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?"
Of course, he is in the Bloomington car, stalled between Normal and the forty acres.
Nobody rides any more. You can't tell one moment where you will be the next. Maybe you will be in the car headed toward the town clock or in the middle of the street, playing leap-frog with the trolley.
Come down to Lincoln and we will show you a real Street Car that is a street car! They ride as easy as the chariots of heaven and glide along like fairies.
"Some memories of the streetcar company"
courtesy of A. Williams, compiled c1950s by Clara Louise Kessler
(Keep in mind that these are memories - dates and specifics may be slightly off):
Asa Moore built and operated the first streetcar lines in Bloomington. He had been an official on the Chicago Alton & St. Louis Railroad (later the Chicago & Alton, now the GM&O).
The first line was to Normal. It was operated in part by a dummy steam engine which ran from the carbarn on Park Street to Normal. The cars from the carbarn to the Courthouse Square and to the IB&W and the LE&W Railroads were pulled by mules. The rails were light weight, and the cars were small and the mules were not very large. The cars had straw on the floor to protect the passengers from frozen feet in the winter and as a base for the mud tracked in during the rainy season, and were lighted by kerosene lamps. They had a farebox at each end. There were no fare registers. The driver was the sole operator. He had a box for change, tickets, and transfers attached to the dashboard. It was many years later when conductors were employed. The fare was five cents in Bloomington. I am not sure whether it was 10 cents to Normal in the early days. Tickets were six for a quarter. The cars had no vestibules. The driver and such passengers as occupied the platforms were exposed to the weather. The steam dummy was discarded in the early years of the line. I have no memory of it but I knew a boy who had his leg cut off by it.
AS the town grew, other lines were built, one on West Washington Street to the "western depot" (the C&A), another to the "eastern depot" (the IC). The depots were referred to by those names by the citizens. A line was built from Main Street to the C&A on Chestnut Street. The South Main line was extended from the IB&W and LE&W tracks to Houghton's Lake. From the present Highland Park to Houghton's Lake it ran on a private right-of-way on the west side of the road. The Normal line also ran on a private right-of-way on the west side from University Avenue to the Normal University, cutting through the campus at an angle. One winter before the other lines were built there was an unusual deep snow and the cars on the Normal line were put on runners. I remember them on Main Street. Whether they ran on to Normal I do not remember. If they did, they probably took to the road instead of the private right-of-way.
This 1920s view shows a Birney cresting the bridge over the Big Four on South Main at Oakland.
Other lines were built from time to time, some not until the road was electrified. The first electric railway in the U.S. was built in 1885. The other lines were the Clinton Belt, the Center Street line, connecting with the Chestnut Street line to make a belt line, the Fell Avenue line to Normal, the Clay and Vale line, the Market Street and Miller Park lines and the Normal loop.
Car 56, one of the short-lived secondhand cars that ran in Bloomington for only four years, from 1902 to 1906, in service on the Clay and Vale line.
While the cars were still being pulled by mules, the Normal cars would change teams at the carbarn. Mule teams equipped with harnesses were driven from the carbarn to the Courthouse Square to relieve the other teams which were driven back to the barn and were stabled in the south wing. The windows opening into their stable can still be seen in outline on the building now occupied by the Illinois Power Company on Park Street. The system was entirely single-track with passing switches at convenient points long after the lines were electrified. In later years there were double tracks on Main from Chestnut to Front and a short distance on Front and on Washington and a stretch of two or three blocks on the Fell Avenue line.
By 1907, when this Sanborn fire insurance map was printed, the carbarn complex had been improved, with a 25-car capacity carbarn facing onto Park and the old powerhouse converted for car storage.
The system was sold to eastern people. The principal owner was Senator Patterson of Pennsylvania. His son, W.H. Patterson, came from Washington, D.C. to be manager.
Some time in the late '80s the change from mules to trolley cars was made. I had seen the electric arc street lights come to replace the gas lamp posts but had never seen an electric streetcar and I wondered about them. My sister, Mattie, had been to Peoria where they were in operation and she told me what a pretty sight it was at night to see the sparks flying from the wire and rails. She said in Peoria they called the cars the "tristies." Little did I dream that later on I would spend about 10 years with those "tristies" and several times be nearly knocked off my feet by the 500 volts going through me instead of the wires and rails where they belonged.
I went to work in the office at the carbarn. I opened up at 6:15am and gave the men their change, tickets, and transfers, then checked the receipts for the previous day and deposited the money in the bank. Unlike the present day practice at the banks when a customer has to wait in line a long time while the teller counts every penny in the big sacks that the merchants send for deposit, I merely handed the deposit slip and the bank book to the teller and he entered the amount in the book and put aside the big canvas sack to count later. He and I were both too busy to take the time. If anything was wrong he would tell me the next day. At 11am and 5pm I had to be at the Square to take the receipts from the men going off duty and supply those going on duty with tickets and transfers. The men going off duty would transfer their five dollars change to their relief men. At night when the cars arrived at the barn, about midnight, we would take the contents of the fareboxes and put them in the safe. These were mostly tickets and transfers except on a few cars which were operated by one man. Nearly all of the cars had a motorman and a conductor. A regular crew consisted of three men, a straight day man, a morning and night man, and an afternoon and night man, there always being two men on duty and one off. They relieved each other for an hour for meals.
Bill Irvin was superintendent. He had worked for Asa Moore in the mule car days. From treating sick and injured mules and running a mule-drawn car line to running an electric railway was a job that he took in his stride. He was liked by everyone who knew him and he knew everybody and was just about the finest, kindest, and hardest-working gentleman that I ever knew. He always saw to the night work when the cars came in about midnight, though on busy days I often worked until midnight myself.
One team of mules was kept at the barn to pull the repair wagon. Jim Marker drove the repair wagon. Later on an electric repair car was used. The cars were of various makes and sizes. The larger ones were used on the Normal line. The Normal line was always the first to be cleared after a snowstorm. We really had some snow in those days. There were times when not a car could run owing to the deep snow. There was a sweeper for light snow and a snow plow for heavy falls. Bill Irvin often worked all night with the snow clearing crews and many times even then only one or two lines would be open by morning.
One of the large 80-series double-truck cars built in 1910 is seen at the C&A underpass in Normal, working the Fell Avenue line.
In summer most of the cars were open ones, with cross seats and running boards along the sides where the conductor would make his way and reach in to collect fares. Sometimes when business was heavy, open cars without motors would be used as trailers. In use for a while were two convertible cars. The entrances were in the middle and the entire sides could be lowered, making a "summer" car out of it. These cars were not much of a success, too complicated, and did not last long. Two very long large cars were bought for use on the Normal line. They were almost as large as an interurban car (there were no interurban cars in Bloomington in the days I am writing about). Many of the streets where the cars ran were not paved. The motorman had a landmark of some kind, a tree or some object, opposite which he stopped the front end of the car so the passengers could get on and off from the wooden crossings and not have to step in the mud. When these long cars were put into operation, the motormen had to pick new landmarks. Ed McCarthy, running one of the large cars, had made a stop on Park Street, then unpaved, on a muddy day. The conductor gave him three bells, the signal to back, as he had missed the crossing. Ed looked over in a yard opposite him and said "darn that fellow, he has moved his flower stand."
One of the larger cars on the roster was semi-convertible car 52, built in 1903.
One of the oldest cars, number 33, was a puzzle to a new operator. It had no controller stand with the notches on it, just a straight pipe with a one-piece controller handle, no reverse lever [see note]. The operator was never sure which way the car would start when the power was applied. Dan Tracy, the night man at the barn, was working around one of the pits when someone started to take old 33 out. Instead of starting out, it shot back and nearly ran over Dan. He said "I would have been kilt if I hadn't jumped between myself and 33."
Trolley parties were popular summer entertainments for clubs and lodges. One or more cars were gaily decorated with colored lights and would run over most of the lines on hot summer nights. The trips usually ended at some designated place where ice cream and cake would be served.
One of the company's open cars, possibly 610 or 611, at the carbarn.
Mr. Patterson was a good man to work for. He was at one time one of the park commissioners. He and his wife were prominent in society. I doubt if Mrs. Patterson ever rode on a streetcar in Bloomington. They had their carriage and trap and a coachman.
The real heyday of the streetcar company came when it was purchased from the Patterson management by a group of local men and Mr. John Eddy was manager. Mr. Eddy was a good mixer. He had been a member of the legislature and postmaster and was always interested in politics. While he was manager the entire system was re-laid with heavy rails and an enlarged layout of tracks at the barn.
Under both managements the used tickets and transfers were burned in the boiler room at the power house near the barn. I tossed them into a boiler firebox. After the fire of 1900 and the Unity Building on the east side of the square had been built, Mr. De Mange had his office in that building and a change was made in handling the used tickets and transfers, it being done at his office. Then I took them to the boiler room of the Bulletin and burned them. The Bulletin Building was where the present YMCA building is now.
Car 81 is stopped in front of the Unity Building on the east side of the square in the early 1910s.
Mr. Eddy was besieged with applications for jobs and complied with most of the requests, especially if the applicants were Democrats. We had a long list of extra men. I do not think that Bill Irvin thought very highly of the qualifications of some of the extras as streetcar operators but they were all broken in for the job. The motormen and conductors received a dollar and a half a day and worked six days a week. At times some of them put in extra time and made more than the regular nine dollars a week but as a rule each had his day off. The only work for the extra men was relief on days off and on big days when extra cars were run. Sometimes a regular man would show up at 6am but would ask to be off on account of not feeling well or something. This happened oftener on bad stormy days in winter, just when experienced motormen were needed. I would assign extras on these occasions. I don't think that Bill Irvin thought much of my judgment but no serious accidents occurred on the system in the years that I worked there. I was glad to see the extra men get work now and then. They showed up faithfully and hopefully every day. One of them was named Wantzenreid - if that is the correct spelling. The regular men never called him by his right name but called him "Once A Week," as that was about as often as he had work, so they said.
I worked long hours and my meal times were very irregular. I had yellow jaundice but did not know it and kept on working. My face and the whites of my eyes were a bright yellow. Sells Brothers Circus was here and Mr. Eddy sent me to the show grounds to see Mr. Louis Sells, the head man, and get a bunch of passes. I located Mr. Sells and told him my errand. He demurred at the large number of passes asked for, then said "I will give them to you if you will promise me something." Then he said "promise me you will go to a doctor and get rid of that yellow." I do not think that I went to a doctor but I recovered and have always thought kindly of Louis Sells for his interest in an unknown young man whom he would probably never see again. I suppose he kept an eye on the army of circus people and spotted anything wrong.
Those streetcar days were happy ones for me. I liked the work. When I came back to make my home again in the old town, in 1945, I was surprised to find no streetcars. The last of the tracks were being taken up on Main Street from Jefferson to Front Street. The substitution of buses in place of streetcars was going on all over the U.S. but I had not thought of it happening in my own town.
Ed. note: This refers to a rheostat controller, a design which predated the K-controller. A gooseneck-style controller handle turned a shaft with a sprocket at the bottom, moving a chain connected to a large rheostat mounted under the car's floor.
Part III: Equipment Roster
The Horsecar Era - 1867-1889
Qty. - Description - Builder & Year - Notes
1 engine - steam dummy "Phil Sheridan" - 1867, possibly Grice & Long; sold 1872 to Home Avenue Street Railway, Dayton, O.
1 car - platform car - 1867
2 or 3 cars - closed horsecars for use with steam dummy - 1867, sent to Chicago in 1872
2 car - closed horsecars of lighter construction
1 plow - plow and flanger - 1867, Lyman Ferre (Bloomington carriage builder)
1 engine - steam dummy "Put Ferre" - 1868 - 1868, possibly Grice & Long; noted as "heavier and stronger"; sold 1872 to Home Avenue Street Railway, Dayton, O.
1 car - small closed horsecar, single-horse - 1872
4 cars - small closed horsecars - 1876
2 cars - larger closed horsecars - 1884 Wight & Co., St. Louis - for use on Normal line
1 car - closed horsecar - 1886 Wight & Co., St. Louis
5 cars - closed horsecars - 1887, unknown builder in St. Louis
"several" cars - open horsecars - 1888, unknown builder in St. Louis
The Electric Era - 1889-1898
Approximately 6-12 additional horsecars were retained by the company as trailers.
Qty. - Description - Builder & Year - Notes
8 cars - closed single-truck - 1890 St. Louis Car Co.
2 cars - open single-truck - 1891 St. Louis Car Co.
1 car - single-truck converted horsecar - converted 1891
6 cars - single-truck horsecars motorized with Short motors - converted 1892
7 cars - closed single-truck cars, open platform, Westinghouse motors - 1892
1 car - snow plow - 1894
The Electric Era - 1898-1936
An unknown number of cars from the early 1890s were retained and refurbished.
Car Nos. - Qty. - Description - Builder & Year - Notes
40 - 1 car - 25' DE ST PAYE - year/builder unknown - Peckham 11 truck, K-10 control, 2xGE 1000 motors
50-51 - 2 cars - 46' DE DT PAYE - 1898 St. Louis Car Co. - StL 13 trucks, K-10 control, 2xGE 57 motors
52 - 1 car - 46' DE DT semiconvertible - 1903 American Car Co. (ord #510) - Brill 27G trucks, K-28A control, 4xGE 88 motors
53 - 1 car - 28' DE ST closed - 1898 St. Louis Car Co. [?] - Peckham 11 truck, K-10 control, 2xWH 49 motors
54-55 - 2 cars - 39'6" DE DT 14-bench open - 1900 St. Louis Car Co. (ord #122) - DuPont 27 trucks, K-11 control, 2xWH 56 motors
56-59 - 4 cars - 34' DT semi-convertible - 1902 purchased secondhand from Roche Co. - retired by 1906
60-65 - 6 cars - 35' DE ST open - 1906 purchased secondhand - DuPont truck, K-10 control, 2xGE 1000 motors
70-75 - 6 cars - 32' DE ST PAYE - 1906 American (ord #674) - Brill 21E truck, K-10 control, 2xGE 1000 motors
80-82 - 3 cars - 46' DE DT PAYE - 1910 Danville (ord #81) - Brill 27GE1 trucks, K-28B control, 2xGE 88 motors
90-96 - 7 cars - 33' DE ST steel PAYE - 1911 Danville* - Curtis truck, K-10 control, 2xGE 88 motors
610-611 - 2 cars - 35' DE DT open - year/builder unknown - StL 13 trucks, K-10 control, 2xGE 1000 motors
702-703 - 2 cars - 32' DE ST steel PAYE - 1910 Danville (ord #558?) - Brill 21E truck, K-10 control, 2xGE 216 motors
101-110 - 10 cars - 28'6" DE ST Birney - 1922 American (ord #1316) - Brill 79E truck, K-10 control, 2xGE 264 motors
111-120 - 10 cars - 28'6" DE ST Birney - 1923 American (ord #1361) - Brill 79E truck, K-10 control, 2xGE 264 motors
*Order does not appear in Danville order list but it's possible that order #553, or another order placed around this time, was diverted to Bloomington-Normal.
Service equipment:
Car No. - Description - Builder & Year - Notes
1 - 28' SE ST snow sweeper - year unknown, McGuire-Cummings - McGuire truck, K-11 control, 2xWH 49 motors
2 - 28' DE ST sprinkler - year unknown, McGuire-Cummings - McGuire truck, K-10 control, 2xWH 49 motors
3 - 19' ST cinder car - Peckham 11 truck - unpowered, possibly converted from streetcar
4 - 40' DE DT work car - 1922 Illinois Traction System shops - StL 13 trucks, K-11 control, 2xGE 1000 motors
5 - 25' flat car - Peckham 11 truck - unpowered, possibly converted from streetcar
44 - 25' SE ST work car - year/builder unknown - Peckham 11 truck, K-10 control, 2xGE 1000 motors - likely rebuilt from a streetcar of the same series as car 40
Car 52, shown in a builder's photo, was essentially a stock Brill semi-convertible. At some point it lost its original MCB trucks in favor of Brill 27G's.
Car 53 is a bit of a mystery. The roster says it was built by St. Louis, but in this builder's photo it clearly has an American Car Company #3 truck (per the roster, it later acquired a Peckham 11 truck). The car predates the St. Louis order list and doesn't appear in the extant American order list, which is incomplete for this period.
The 70-series, like car 75 shown here, were single-truckers of a general design used by many cities.
When the Birneys were new, it is thought that they were painted dark green, following Illinois Traction System practice. Here, a pair is seen at the end of the South Main line.
Part IV: Timetable
This timetable is dated March 1925. Note that the cars used differently colored lights to denote route assignment.
Part V: Route Map
I went to school down at ISU. I first found out about the streetcars because of exhibit in the University Art Gallery. Someone had made ViewMaster discs that combined elements from old photos with current views from around campus. One of the scenes was a streetcar going under the C&A underpass. Naturally I wanted to find out more. The Milner Library had an edition of Fred and Mary Rozum’s book “The history of street railways in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois” which I did check out on a number of occasions. Even made a map of the 1936 routes as a quick project for one of my Graphic Design classes. My big final project was to re-photograph areas around Bloomington-Normal from historical images. This involved getting images from the McLean County Museum (in the old courthouse in downtown Bloomington) Many of the images here are also in their collection. Thanks for the history!
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