Jacksonville Railway & Light
by Stephen M. Scalzo
Headline image: It's December 1914 and car 33 is turning from Illinois Street west into State Street with the carbarn behind it and the Chicago & Alton Railroad in the right background. All photos are from the Stephen Scalzo Collection of the Illinois Railway Museum except where noted.
Ed. note: For those unfamiliar with Jacksonville, Illinois, it is a city in central Illinois located 30 miles west of Springfield and 75 miles north of St. Louis.
The Jacksonville Railway Company was incorporated on February 25, 1867, with $50,000 of capital. However, slow stock subscription delayed the operation of the first line, running from the Square on South Main Street to the Asylum on Greenwood Street, until December 14, 1870, when one-man horsecar service operating every half hour was offered for a seven-cent fare. By 1886 there were 4.5 miles of track operated with 15 horsecars and 23 horses. On July 10, 1871, track laying began on the East State Street line, and by September 15, 1871, horsecars were operating over that line every half hour, with additional 15-minute service from the Square to the Depot. Later, tracks were constructed on West State Street and then North Main Street. The small cars were pulled by one horse in good weather and two horses in bad weather. By 1888, the company had become characterized by poor service and no dividends.
In December 1891, the Jacksonville & Suburban Railway was organized with $15,000 of capital, which proposed building a cable, steam, or electric powered street railway. As a result of a Jacksonville Railway Company stockholders' suit in response to the threat of the new company, ownership passed into the hands of William S. Hook and his sister, Miss Frances Hook, with the blessings of the stockholders.
William S. Hook, a bookkeeper and teller at the banking house of M.P. Ayers and Company, turned out to be a natural railroad organizer in the flamboyant period of "boom and bust" operations. He organized the Farmers' Railroad to Waverly into the Jacksonville & Southeastern Railroad to Litchfield, and took over the Peoria Pekin & Jacksonville Railroad, turning both railroads into profitable operations. He was running the deluxe passenger train "The Red Express" between St. Louis and Chicago over his railroad [the Chicago Peoria & St. Louis - ed.] and connecting leased lines when the Panic of 1893 wiped him out. But to further indicate his organizing skill, he had control of the Los Angeles streetcar system [Los Angeles Traction Company - ed.] soon after his arrival there and greatly prospered. William Hook died in 1904.
Miss Hook tended to the operations of the street railway, and extended trackage and improved service year by year. In 1890, the company was granted a franchise for electric service. In March 1892, construction began on extending the West State Street line south on Webster Avenue to Mound Avenue, and west along Mound to Grand Avenue. On April 14, 1892, Mr. C.E. Flinn of the Thomson-Houston Company operated the first electric-operated Pullman-built streetcar over the State Street line. On April 21, the carbarn at the south end of the South Main Street line was completed, replacing the original carbarn and stable on the South Main Street line at Mound Avenue. On April 24, electric streetcars began operating on the Main Street line. By 1894, the company had five miles of track, five horses, 12 trailers, and nine electric streetcars.
Car 23 doesn't appear on surviving rosters of the company, but this print claims it was one of three open cars of this series and was built by Brownell, both of which seem plausible. The car is shown at the carbarn on East State Street.
By 1900, Jacksonville had a population of 15,078, and streetcar fares were five cents for adults and two cents for children, with 100-coupon books costing $4.00 and $2.00 respectively. In 1901, a new carbarn and repair shop was built on East State Street at Illinois Avenue [this barn stood until 2003 - ed.], and the lines were extended to the west end ball park, to the east side shops of the Chicago Peoria & St. Louis Railroad, to Nichols Park, and to Dewey Park in South Jacksonville. By 1902, the company operated 10 closed and eight open streetcars over five miles of primary track and 0.19 miles of secondary track consisting of 60- and 70-pound T rail.
This unidentified car is quite possibly one of the original 1892 Pullman single-truck electric cars, though this photo looks like it was taken some time later in the car's career.
On April 27, 1903, the Jacksonville Traction Company was organized by the Illinois Power and Traction Company, better known as the McKinley Syndicate. On May 18, 1905, formal ownership of the Jacksonville Railway Company and the Jacksonville Light and Coke Company were purchased by the McKinley Syndicate, with the intent of building a connection to the Illinois Traction System. On December 23, 1905, the Jacksonville Railway & Light Company was incorporated as a consolidation of the streetcar and power companies. By 1907, there were seven miles of trackage (the maximum for the system) operated by 20 streetcars.
Car 26 is shown in a 1905 builder's photo.
Before the automobile age, the streetcar lines were highly profitable. During county fair week, as many as 10,000 to 15,000 people paid fares daily, and a celebration at Nichols Park was good for 5-7,000 fares. In 1915, five-cent jitneys began taking away riders, and automobile usage started to affect ridership on streetcars. Between February 28 and March 14, 1915, individual fares were 24,167 below collections in the same period the year before. Because of reduced patronage, conductors were eliminated during 1915, with passengers dropping their fares into glass-sided fareboxes next to the motorman. Even though the company sued for violation of franchise and the court ruled jitneys illegal in Jacksonville, the judge never explained how his decision could be enforced. Thus, the streetcar system began to die from the lack of passengers.
Handsome car 32 was built by Danville, at the time a Brill subsidiary, in 1909 as a copy of the earlier 26-30 series cars built by American. It's pictured at the carbarn, signed for the West State line.
The provenance of car 33 isn't clear; it was bought secondhand in 1910 and may have been built by Danville. It's shown before being converted to one-man operation in 1916.
In 1916, ordinary operations required the use of only six streetcars on 15-minute schedules, with all lines meeting on the south side of the Square where passengers could transfer. On November 13, 1917, the Illinois Utilities Commission authorized the abandonment of the portion of the East State Street line lying east of the Chicago & Alton Railroad tracks. That trackage, 3600 feet long and never physically connected with the rest of the system, had been operated by one streetcar. During 1918, fares were increased to six cents, but profits did not materialize.
Car 26 is heading west on State Street in December 1914 with the carbarn in the background and an unidentified open-platform car following.
An early single-trucker - quite possibly one of the 1892 Pullman cars - rebuilt as a sand car (as written under the end window) is parked in the yard next to a flat car. Judging from the lower-quadrant semaphores in the background, this is likely behind the carbarn at Illinois and East State, and the Chicago & Alton yard is over the fence.
On April 29, 1926, authority was given to abandon the North Main Street line, and on May 6, 1926, buses replaced streetcars on South Main Street. Now the company was back with the same State Street line on which electric streetcar service had begun. Public complaints began to mount regarding the streetcars being noisy and shabby in appearance, so in early 1927, in an effort to improve service, five secondhand four-wheel Birney streetcars, three from Galesburg and two from Champaign, replaced the older cars. However, when the company was notified that it would have to pay $30,000 for its share of the repaving of streets where the trackage was located, the company applied to the Illinois Commerce Commission to quit the streetcar business. On March 27, 1927, the ICC finally gave permission, and on August 1, 1930, buses replaced the remaining streetcars on East and West State Street. On October 14, 1930, the company was authorized to abandon its last trackage in Jacksonville on East and West State Street.
This article was edited and laid out by Frank Hicks. Thanks to Ray and Julie Piesciuk and to Richard Schauer for making available the materials from the Stephen Scalzo Collection that were used to publish this history.
Equipment Roster
This roster is incomplete
23 & ? (three cars) - DE ST DR open cars, Brownell
25 (one car) - DT cab-on-flat locomotive - St Louis trucks, 4 x GE 57 motors, K-14 control - ex-Chicago Ottawa & Peoria 25, sold 1927 to Cairo Railway & Light 25
26-30 (five cars) - DE ST DR closed cars, American Car Co 1905 (ord#608) - Brill 21E truck, WH 92 motors, K-10 control - rebuilt 1916 at Decatur for one-man operation and renumbered 34, 35, 36, 39, and 40
31-32 (two cars) - DE ST DR closed cars, Danville Car Co 1909 (ord#527) - Brill 21E truck, GE 80A motors, K-10 control - rebuilt 1916 at Decatur for one-man operation and renumbered 37-38
33 (one car) - DE ST DR closed car, bought secondhand 1910 - Brill 21E truck, GE 80A motors, K-10 control - rebuilt 1916 at Decatur for one-man operation
638, 647 (two cars) - DE ST 12-bench open cars - DuPont truck, GE 57 motors, K-28 control
(three cars, numbers unknown*) - DE ST AR Birney, American Car Co 1920 (ord#1263) - Brill 79E1 truck, WH 508 motors, K-10Q control - ex-Galesburg Railway & Light, acquired 1927**
(two cars, numbers unknown*) - DE ST AR Birney, American Car Co 1922 (ord#1315) - Brill 79E1 truck, GE 264 motors, K-10 control - ex-Champaign 107 and 111, acquired 1927
*Likely not renumbered from previous owners' fleet numbers
**Some sources say these were cars 18-20 in Galesburg, but car 18 was retained by Galesburg and sold in 1936 for use in Alton so this information is suspect.
Jacksonville Streetcar Route Map
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