The Kewanee & Galva Railway
by Stephen M. Scalzo
Headline image: Sometime around 1924, the Kewanee system showed off its fleet with this image taken looking northwest from the corner of Beach and McClure Streets. L-R, interurban cars 50 and 101 are on the west tail of the wye at the entrance to Windmont Park, while a 51-series interurban and seven secondhand Birneys are on the carbarn leads. Note the roof-mounted headlights on the Birneys and the locomotive-style Avery under-mount steam tractor, built in nearby Peoria, on the right. All photos are from the Stephen Scalzo Collection of the Illinois Railway Museum except where noted.
The Galesburg & Oneida Electric Railway was incorporated on December 3, 1901, for the purpose of building a railway from Galesburg northeast to Oneida. However, before any work could start, the stockholders decided that the proposed line would be a 31-mile railway from Galesburg to Kewanee, and on May 21, 1902, the company was reorganized and renamed the Galesburg & Kewanee Electric Railway with $500,000 of capital. Construction began on the city lines in Kewanee on November 4 by P. Hart and Sons of Brighton, New York, and continued into 1903. Electric power was temporarily purchased from the Kewanee Light and Power Company, and a temporary car barn was constructed at the end of the Lake Street line.
The first two streetcars arrived on July 9, 1903, and on August 21, contractor C.P. Hart, acting as motorman, made the inaugural run on the line from the New Lake Grounds to Main and Third Streets in Kewanee. Afterward, the two streetcars started regular service, making round trips every 20 minutes, and over the next two days carried more than 10,000 passengers. On September 8, service was extended from Main and Third Streets south to Wethersfield using a streetcar borrowed from Galesburg. During 1903, some right-of-way for the interurban line between Kewanee and Galva was secured and a small amount of grading was started. The first interurban, number 50, arrived in September.
It's uncertain whether this is the inaugural run in July 1903, but it's certainly an early photo. The car, soon to become G&K 1 or 2, still bears its St. Louis Transit lettering and fleet number: 381.
The first interurban car ordered was this handsome combine, shown at the American Car Company plant prior to delivery.
In 1904, control of the company, formerly held by Galesburg and Oneida stockholders, passed into the hands of Kewanee stockholders. Construction on a new powerhouse and car barn on part of 16 acres of land acquired in Wethersfield began in August. The loop around the Kewanee business district to West Street, a little over a mile in length, was constructed next. That line, along with a third city streetcar, was put into operation on November 12.
During 1905, another mile of track was constructed in Kewanee, and in the fall of that year, the new powerhouse and car barn were opened. In the spring of 1906, the stockholders of the company voted to issue $400,000 worth of 5% 20-year gold bonds to pay off the floating indebtedness and to finance further extensions and improvements, including construction of the interurban line to Galva. Contractor W.T. Brensen began work on the interurban line after the Galva city council granted a 20-year franchise on July 26, and on December 6, the maiden trip operated over the 8.3-mile line between Galva and Kewanee.
Niles-built interurban combines 51 and 52 were the largest cars on the system. Here, car 51 is seen in downtown Kewanee with secondhand city car 2 behind it. The pride taken in the G&K system can be inferred from the high number of "crew photos" taken in the early years.
Niles car 52 is at the west end of the system in Galva, with the Rock Island in the right background.
Regular interurban service, which required 25 minutes of travel time, began operating afterward and was maintained using three interurbans. The line started from the West End city line on the northeast corner of Third and Main Streets in Kewanee and after leaving Kewanee it paralleled the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad tracks to Galva. Later, the first schedule called for 11 runs in each direction. For many years thereafter, the interurban made about 15 round trips daily, with the first run from Galva about 6:00 AM and the final run back to Kewanee at 11:30 PM.
On January 29, 1907, the East Wethersfield line was completed, and a fourth streetcar was put into service. During 1907, 8.43 miles of track was built, giving the company a total of 12.93 miles, of which 7.7 miles was interurban trackage and 5.23 miles was city trackage. Later that year, a second direct drive generating unit was installed at the powerhouse and an amusement park was built on the other 16 acres of land next to the car barn and powerhouse. By the end of 1907, 11 city cars, three interurbans, and four work cars were in use.
Attractive city car 3 was supposedly built new for the G&K by St. Louis, but does not show up in that company's records. Here it is seen on East Street just south of McClure, where there was a short spur south from McClure that made up the East Wethersfield line terminus.
This ramshackle-looking open car, G&K 11, was acquired secondhand from the Galesburg system in 1903. It's pictured in front of the carbarn, just outside the entrance to Windmont Park.
Prior to July 1, 1907, the interurban fare had been 20 cents one-way or 30 cents round trip. However, after that date, the fare was reduced to 18 cents one-way with no round trip fare between Galva and Kewanee. On March 1, 1911, fares on the interurban had to be increased because of reduced patronage and the need for additional revenue to offset the depressed business conditions in Kewanee that resulted from the 1907 Panic. Revenues for the company had been disappointing since interurban and streetcar service began and no dividends were paid. In 1912, deliveries of bottled goods by the interurban were stopped at the request of the Galva city council. During 1913, one-man service was introduced as a cost saving measure. Application to the Illinois Public Utilities Commission for authority for a seven-cent fare was approved in August 1917. However, by 1918, the company's operating deficit had increased to $16,3589 from the 1917 deficit of $10,551. On May 28, 1920, the IPUC authorized an eight-cent fare and five tickets for 35 cents.
To compound problems in the early 1920s, H.D. Brent of Galva began operating a bus line between Galva and Kewanee; court action in July 1923 resulted in the Henry County Circuit Court issuing an injunction against the bus line. In August 1923, because of continued losses due to jitney competition and increased use of the private automobile, the Cambridge Circuit Court, at the request of the bondholders' committee, placed the company into the hands of a receiver, RH. Hayward, the general manager of the company. On October 20, after the company had been sold at a foreclosure sale to Dave Wine of Kewanee for $50,000, all streetcar and interurban service was suspended. Mr. Wine had no desire to operate the company, but he was willing to keep the property intact until Kewanee could take over.
Car 50 is shown turning from going northbound on Main to westbound on 3rd in downtown Kewanee. Krambles-Peterson Archive.
This undated photo taken in Galva shows interurban car 50 "on the ground."
City car 2 is outside the carbarn in Kewanee in this undated photo. It appears that the car has just been outshopped, and its one-man configuration suggests this photo may date to sometime around 1913, when one-man operation was instituted.
On February 29, 1924, the Kewanee Public Service Company was incorporated with the idea of operating streetcars and the gas and electric plants in Kewanee; on the next day, a subsidiary company, the Kewanee & Galva Railway, was incorporated. On June 14, the citizens of Kewanee voted to approve the plan of B.F. Lyons of Beloit, Wisconsin, which called for the consolidation of the municipal and the privately owned electric plants with the streetcar and interurban company. Acquisition of the Galesburg & Kewanee Electric Railway was granted on June 25, and the whole undertaking was financed largely through the sale of $1,200,000 worth of first mortgage 6% Series A gold bonds by the Kewanee Public Service Company.
Preparation for the reconstruction of the city streetcar lines began in July. Representatives of the American Car Company arrived in Kewanee to confer about new streetcars on July 1, and plans for purchasing new rail for the city trackage were developed soon afterward. Interurban service using the old interurbans resumed on September 4 with 14 round trips, after a motor generator set was obtained. The eight yellow Birney streetcars, seven single-truckers purchased secondhand from Detroit, Michigan, for the city trackage, and one new double-truck car for the interurban, arrived on October 25. However, because track reconstruction was not completed on the city trackage to the Wethersfield car barn, the new streetcars were temporarily stored on the interurban line at Midland until November 18.
City car 5 is shown in its later years, after conversion to one-man operation, on the May Street stub near the east end of the system. This photo looks northeast, with Railroad Avenue in the background.
Interurban car 101 was a pretty standard off-the-shelf double-truck Birney - quite the contrast with the old, heavy Niles cars it was designed to replace. It was single-ended with a baggage/express compartment at the rear. It's shown here westbound on 2nd near Lexington in Kewanee.
On November 29, at 10:00 AM, a dedication ceremony saw all of the old streetcars formally withdrawn from service and replaced by six new streetcars. For that reopening day for the city lines, over 10,000 people took advantage of the free service being offered; patronage was so heavy that two additional streetcars had to be added at noon to supplement the scheduled six streetcars. The reconstructed seven miles of city trackage radiated in four directions from downtown Kewanee - the Wethersfield line extending south, the West End line, the Third Street East line, and the Main Street north line. To attract riders, a new $1 weekly pass was instituted soon afterward. However, the automobile was there to stay, so the streetcar system began to die.
On September 10, 1926, both the Kewanee Public Service Company and the Kewanee & Galva Railway were acquired by the North American Light and Power Company. A short time later, a track connection was built with the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railroad in Galva so that the interurban line could start a freight business. Interurban 51 had its rear platform removed and a standard AAR coupler installed so it could serve as a freight locomotive.
A pair of photos taken at 3rd and Main in downtown Kewanee: at top, it's June 21, 1931, and we're looking east-northeast as one of the Birneys returns from a trip out to the east end of the Lake Street line. At bottom, date unknown but possibly taken at the same time, interurban car 101 is about to pull into the terminal track on the east side of Main north of 3rd in this view looking north-northeast. Both photos by Robert V. Mehlenbeck.
On January 25, 1928, buses replaced streetcar service on the Main Street North line, and on May 8, authority was received to abandon the line. The company had never gotten permission to install a crossing where the trackage met the CB&Q, so that section had always been operated, isolated from the rest of the system, with one streetcar.
By 1930, it was estimated that at least $75,000 would be needed to rehabilitate the interurban line. Interurbans were operating slowly in several places where ties were sinking into the soft roadbed. Earnings dropped from $33,444 in 1927 to $9,420 in 1932. Highways and isolation spelled doom for the interurban line. Despite the added revenue of interchange carload freight, the increasing deficits finally forced the Kewanee & Galva Railway to appeal to the Illinois Commerce Commission on December 21, 1932, for authority to abandon the line. Authority was quickly granted and all service was discontinued on December 31. The following summer, the trackage was torn up and sold for scrap.
Car 101 is sitting in front of the carbarn in this Robert V. Mehlenbeck photo taken in early 1933. Assuming the date is correct, this is some eight months after abandonment of the interurban line to Galva, but it's uncertain whether the car is in city service or was pulled out of storage for a photo.
On April 21, 1935, Robert V. Mehlenbeck caught a sad-looking car 624 sitting just outside the carbarn at the corner of Beach and McClure. The Birneys had their headlights relocated from the roof to the dash at some point in the early 1930s but retained the rooftop "hoops" that had guarded them from inadvertent contact with the trolley poles.
Between 1925 and 1935, streetcar revenues dropped from $58,569 to $7,795 while patronage dropped from 978,333 to 112,652. The remaining streetcar service hung on until December 14, 1935, when the Kewanee Public Service Company substituted buses on the remaining three city lines. Authority to abandon the remaining streetcar trackage was granted on December 23. On December 19, WPA workers started removal of the rails on the remaining 14,850 feet of track.
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.
Roster of Equipment
1-2 (two cars) - built 1893 by Brownell, acquired secondhand 1903 from St. Louis Transit Co. - DE DR ST - Peckham 7D truck, 2 x GE 80 motors, K-10 control, 28 seats, 30' long (ex-StLT 381 and one other)
3 (one car) - St. Louis 1904 - DE DR ST - St L 46 truck, 2 x WH 12A motors, K-10 control, 24 seats, 26' long
4 (one car) - Cincinnati 1904 (ord#270) - DE DR ST - Peckham truck, 2 x WH 12A motors, K-10 control, 24 seats, 29' long
5-7 (three cars) - Kuhlman 1907 (ord #352) - DE DR ST - Brill 21E truck, 2 x GE 80 motors, K-10 control, 32 seats, 32'6" long
11 (one car) - built 1893 by American (?), acquired secondhand 1903 from Galesburg - DE DR ST 8-bench open - McGuire truck, 2 x WH 3 motors, K-10C control, 40 seats, 23' long (ex-GEM&P - see note)
12-14 (three cars ) - built 1892 by St. Louis, acquired secondhand 1906 from Calumet Electric Railway - DE ST 8-bench open trailer - St L 2 truck, 40 seats, 23' long (ex-CER 16, 26, and one other)
50 (one car) - American 1903 (ord#467) - DE RR DT combine - Brill 27E trucks, 4 x GE 80 motors, K-6 control, 32 seats, 43'10" long (built for St. Francois County Railway, order diverted)
51-52 (two cars) - Niles 1906 - SE RR DT - Baldwin trucks, 4 x GE 87 motors, K-14 control, 50'3" long
101 (one car) - American 1925 (ord#1396) - SE AR DT - Brill 77E1 trucks, 4 x GE 264 motors, K-35 control, 40'3" long
612-626 even (eight cars) - Brill 1921, acquired secondhand 1924 from Detroit - DE AR ST Birney - Brill 79E1 truck
SERVICE CARS
101 (one car) - McGuire-Cummings 1903 - ST 2,000-gallon sprinkler - McGuire truck, 2 x GE motors, K-10 control, 26' long
102-103 (two cars) - Baldwin 1903 - DT 25-ton hopper - PA diamond trucks, unmotorized, 26' long
104 (one car) - McGuire-Cummings 1904 - ST 9-ton flatcar - DuPont truck, 21' long
110 (one car) - McGuire-Cummings - DE AR ST snow sweeper - McGuire truck, 28'3" long (sold 1934 to Peoria as Illinois Power & Light 1005)
Note on car 11: James Buckley's roster surmises that this car was ex-GEM&P 11, though a photo of the car (below) appears to show it numbered 51, suggesting it may have been ex-GEM&P 51. If it was ex-11, then it was built in 1893 by American; if ex-51, then it was built in 1898, builder unknown.
Car 2 is shown in the early years, while still set up for two-man operation with rear-platform boarding.
This later photo shows the car in its one-man configuration, with better-looking ends. The Kewanee system started with dash headlights, then changed them to rooftop, then went back to dash-mounted in the last few years.
Car 5 was one of three standard Brill semi-convertibles built by Kuhlman in 1907. This summertime photo shows all of the upper sash, and most of the lower sash, opened up.
G&K 7, one of the 1907 semi-convertibles, shows off window options in a Kuhlman builder's photo.
Car 7 is in service on the Lake Street line, with a jaunty crew of conductor Charles Williams at left and motorman Joe Cox at right. The dash sign advertises German Day at the Kewanee Fairgrounds.
Eight-bench open cars 12, 13, and 14 were acquired secondhand from the Calumet Electric Street Railway. Here, one of the cars is in operation while still wearing its CESR paint and number, 26.
Well-proportioned Niles interurban car 51 is shown in front of the Wetherfield carbarn in Kewanee. It looks as though the left rear door may have been sealed up, judging from the lack of a step well.
Track Map
For more information on the Kewanee-Galva electric railway system, click here to order the book Streetcars in Kewanee and Galva, Illinois by Fred A. Rozum.
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