Bringing the interurban railway back to life

It was once a familiar sight in Bureau County.

Electric interurban street cars ran the rails from Spring Valley to Ladd, and from DePue to Princeton, taking riders to jobs and shopping across the county and beyond.

The Great Depression finally killed the interurban in 1934, which had begun in 1902 when the first segment was built from Ottawa through Spring Valley to Ladd, and eventually grew to include Joliet on the east and Princeton on the west.

Those days are long gone, but Brian Nolan and Pat Rooney of the Grundy County Historical Society have brought them back to life with a DVD of the interurban’s beginnings, showing its popularity and various routes.

Nolan has been researching the “Interurban Railroad System” for several years, talking with area historians, librarians from Joliet west to LaSalle/Peru and octogenarians from all over the country who remember riding the trolley. Rooney also did research and was the technical expert who put the DVD together.

Nolan began ruminating on the trolley line when a couple of women came into the Grundy County Historical Museum asking if the museum had anything on the interurban. The two women grew up in LaSalle and told Nolan they used to cut school now and then and catch the interurban and ride to Joliet for a day of fun and adventure.

The turning point for him came when he was shown a book of several pencil sketches of the trolley at various locations along its route, drawn by Eric Tabler around 1905-20.

From the 45 drawings, he and Rooney were able to put the locations in place, little by little, of the trolley and its routes and stops. The history in the drawings is incredible, Nolan said, and Tabler put in so many background reference points that Nolan’s detective work was made easier.

“Some of the stations were gone,” Nolan said, “Like Starved Rock. It was out in the middle of nowhere. We had to dig around, and we found the foundation ... Every community had a station, but even if you were out in the country and waved your hand, it would stop for you.”

The detective work brought Nolan to Spring Valley, the location of the westernmost drawing.

Debb Ladgenski of the Spring Valley Historic Society provided him with copies of photographs and information that are on file at the Richard A. Mautino Memorial Library and in Ladgenski’s own personal file. One of the pictures Ladgenski gave Nolan was of the interurban bridge that ran across Spring Creek from Webster Park.

Ladgenski said the interurban station in Spring Valley used to be located on South Greenwood Street. In the city, the line ran up and down Greenwood Street, and then on to both Ladd and Princeton.

According to author George W. Hilton, in his book “The Electric Interurban Railways in America,” the “Illini Trail,” which extended westward down the Illinois Valley north of the river from Joliet to Princeton with branches to Ladd and Streator, was one of the longest interurban lines in the state. It was built in sections by several different companies.

After the Ottawa to Ladd segment was completed in 1904, the section eastward from Ottawa to Marseilles was completed in the same year. The line then extended to both the east and west, and reached Princeton in 1907, Morris in 1909, and Joliet in 1912. Service out of Joliet was hourly with alternating trains west of Spring Valley terminating at Princeton and Ladd.

According to local historian Bill Lamb, within a few weeks after the interurban street car began its trips through Princeton, a smaller in-town street car was installed to run down the middle of Main Street between the north and south ends of town, making round trips every 20 minutes. Poles were placed along the side of Main Street to hold in place the electric power lines that powered the street cars. Around 1910, a new brick roadway was built on Main Street, surrounding the street car rails. In time, Main Street’s brick pavement and street car rails were covered with about three inches of asphalt.

Ladgenski is eager to see the completed DVD, and she said the historic society will ask Nolan to present a program on the project.

Ladgenski said the DVD is a great accomplishment and shows the interurban was part of a huge transportation network for the area that allowed people to work, shop and travel more easily.

“This was an integral part of their livelihoods,” Ladgenski said. “I applaud Brian for keeping that part of history alive.”

Ladgenski urged area residents to share their memories and memorabilia about the interurban with others.

“There’s a lot of things in people’s homes and their memories that will be lost if they don’t share it,” she said.

Correspondent Jeanne Millsap of the Morris Daily Herald contributed to this article.

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