Interubans were mostly, but not exclusively, Midwest phenomena, existing between about 1900 and 1930. By 1930 the Great Depression, cheaper cars, and more and better roads, put most interurban system out of business, and those same forces were beginning to affect railroad passenger service. Only WWII kept railroad passenger service viable for another decade or so. In their heyday, one could rid interubans great distances, as shown in a map of the southern Michigan interurban system below.
During their period of operation, interurbans were not allowed to cross standard railroad tracks at grade level. So elaborate tressels had to be built to get the interurban cars up and over any railroad tracks, and provide enough clearance for the trains to go under them. The tressels were large, probably expensive, and typically made of wood, as the ca. 1910 photograph of an interurban climbing a tressel near Galesburg, MI, shows.
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The Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo line used a steel section of bridge to cross 28th street.
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Interurban coach - built 1914 for Michigan United Traction Company. The image above, right, shows the interior. At the right, infront, is a sign saying "St. Louis Car Co." Lower down, one could be the Grand Rapids Herald for 3-cents. The seats were covered in leather, and appear to be quite comfortable. On the larger cars, a smoking section was located in the back end of the car.
The interurban track that ran south, behind the old Rackett swimming pool
(apparently filled in as of year 2000), started operation in 1915,
and ceased operation in 1928. Connecting Grand Rapids and
Kalamazoo, the interurbans started out in Grand Rapids from a terminal that
was located on the site where the Civic Auditorium was later built. It is shown
in the photograph below, on the left. The terminal was clearly a spartan affair,
and in the 1913 to 1928 time frame within which the interubran operated, people
were willing to walk few blocks, even in harsh weather, to get to their destinations.
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The image above shows the Kalamazoo interurban station in 1920, just about mid way in its operating period. It's not clear just where in downtown Kalamazoo the station left a passenger. On the Grand Rapids end the terminal occupied the site later used by the Civic Auditorium.
In route, the interurbans sometimes reached speeds of 85 to 90 miles per
hour. The tracks were built to heavy rail standards, and the route between
Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo was straight much of the time. The coaches were
up to 70 feet long, weighed as much as 67 tons, and were some of the largest
used on any of the numerous interurbans of the time.
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The image above shows a car on a Jackson/Battle Creek line, but it's likely that the Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo line was very similar in appearance. One can see the third rail on the bottom far right of the photograph. In the more practical, less densely populated world of the 1915 to 1930 time period, a rail with 1,200 volts of D.C. was tolerated. Lethal, fences apparently did exist in many places in an attempt to keep people off the right of way. Built in 2004, if the land could be found, an OSHA approved electric interurban would be hopelessly expensive.
It's possible that the interurban had an effect on the development of the area along Division Avenue, between about 28th and 44th Streets. Starter buildings, located near 32nd Street just south of the old Burger King, and near about 42nd Street, sitting by themselves, and intended to be the nucleus of rows of stores, like the old Burton Heights, Many of the streets in this same area were begun in the 1910 to 1920 time frame. It's likely that the intent was to use the interurban to get people to and from work in Grand Rapids. The stretch between 28th and about 44th streets was in reality a large real estate development effort, but until 1936 there was not a great deal of industry in the area.
The extent of the interban system in lower Michigan in and around the mid 1920s can be seen in the image below.
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At its peak one could get to most of the major cities in lower Michigan by interurban. By the late 1920s automobiles were beginning to have a dramatic affect on interurban and passenger train ridership, and many interurbans failed. The Division Avenue Bus Line began in the 1920's, provided the transportation between about 68th Street and Grand Rapids left vacant when the interurban went bankrupt in 1928.
In many states the interurban right of ways were shared with power company transmission facilities. It is no coincidence that the Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo track is now occupied by high voltage towers. The tracks themselves were torn out and sold, with the exception of a few streets, where they were simply paved over. Hills existed on 34th and maybe 35th streets up through at least the 1950's. When the roads were leveled later on the rails and track ties were still there.
For a capsule summary of the Michigan Electric Railway company, a view of what the Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo interurbans looked like, and a fascinating description of what happened to many of them, see Michigan Electric Railway #28. The story is similar in other states, and a number coaches have been spared total oblivion by spending years as cottages, chicken coops, and storage sheds. That, and the ingenuity, imagination, and skill of those railroad museum workers who have restored and rebuilt what is left of many.
December 15, 1967, on a walk along the right of way, near 92nd Street, I walked down below a bridge used by the interurban. The ground was frozen, so what would have been swampy ground in the summer was quite firm. On the cement wall some long ago vandal had scratched "T. Flannerary, Feb 4, 1913." This is probably about the time the route between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo was being built. I'm not sure there is a last name like "Flannerary;" maybe I got the spelling wrong. It would be interesting to know who that person was (is?). According to Robert Morris, father of Phyllis Morris, class of 1962, there were a number of members of the Flannery family - with this spelling - in the area, so perhaps the inscription is part of a boyhood prank of writing one's initials in to fresh concrete.
On the same walk, I took a few photographs of the rail bed of the interuban.
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The track bed was still fairly well defined after almost 40 years. Using satellite images one can still see the outline of the right of way from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo. The right of way extended 50 feet either side of the track, leaving plenty of room for the transmission towers and an access road that one can see in the photographs above.
South of 84th Street, and along the old 131, the interurban track bed is well defined yet in year 2010, some 82 years after operations ceases. In some areas the culverts and roadbed appear to be in very good condition, having the appearance that track could be laid again. For much of this stretch, the owners of the land, Consumers Power, has not graded to the property. Just east of 124th Street and the old 131, there is the foundation of a terminal. See below.
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As shown on the map, the stop is near a spot on the map called Shelbyville. None of this makes much sense until one realizes that Gun Lake is only a small ways to the east. So this stop was likely to provide access to Gun Lake for vacationers and cottage owners. Hopefully someone has a photograph of the stop, or at least a list of the stops along the interurban route.
( Material provided by Lewis Lull, class of 1940, scanned and sent by Craig Lull, class of 1970.)
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Material supplied for scanning by Lillian Annis, class of 1941.
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