I wish to help dispell this myth with a site dedicated to the height of the interurban era, approximately 1895 to 1935. During this time virtually every city had developed an electric streetcar system and took the logical step of extending these rail lines beyond the city limits. Interurban rail lines connected cities to one another and to their surrounding suburbs and rural agricultural communities. More importantly the inteurbans facilitated easy, affordable transportation to all classes of citizens.

I will probably wish to focus on only a few specific areas: perhaps just Chicagoland, Central Indiana and Ohio, and New England. The interurban was a democratizing, incorporating force whose era waned when automobiles became affordable and governments diverted funding from rail services to the construction of paved roads.

Findings

• Books

Hilton, George W. & Due, John F.The Electric Interurban Railways in America.Stanford University Press. 1964

Very detailed history of the interurban in many parts of the country.

Indianapolis: A Pictorial HiIstory

Includes several quality images of the interurban, including the massive downtown terminal.

Middleton, William D.The Interurban Era.Kalmbach Publishing: Milwaukee. 1961.

Very similar in nature to Hilton's book, though less text-heavy and providing a wealth of images



• Web sites--I will wish to draw on these and to link to them

http://www.erha.org/laiuh.htm

gives a detailed history of the Los Angeles Inter-Urban Electric Railway

http://www.sheridanc.on.ca/~randy/design.dir/car.dir/streetrr.htm

This site, designed by a student at Sheridan College in Canada, is a good model since it does essentially what I hope to do though not as well as I hope to do it. This site also includes some links which I should find useful.

http://www.marshallmich.com/history/interurbanhist2.shtml

Part of a larger site on the history of Marshall, Michigan