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A funny-looking vehicle
wended its way along North Main street one day in the '70s.
People lined the street today, it would bring many a laugh.
But it didn't in the '70s for it meant something - a whole lot - to
the people of Decatur. It was their first street car.
Franklin Priest was the man who made the first attempt to pull
Decatur out of the mud by inaugurating street car service between
the "Old square" and the railroad station. Naturally the promoter
of the enterprise was elated the day his railway was put into
operation. Ever since he had come to Decatur he had been
battling mud. The streets were sloughs of despair.
There was no drainage. In wet weather the mud was bottomless.
Often it was impossible for the omnibuses, though pulled by four
horses or mules, to make the trip from the depot, the trunks had to
be brought to the hotels on wheelbarrows. Mr. Priest built the car
line largely to bridge the chasm between the railroad station and
his hotel on the square.
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FIRST STREET CAR "The Decatur Horse Railway
and Carrying company" was the title given by Mr. Priest to his line.
The franchise was granted by the city of Decatur Nov. 14, 1876.
It gave Mr. Priest permission to lay a street car track from the
depot to the Old square by way of North Main and East Cerro
Gordo streets, and also from the square to the P. D. & E. depot on
East Main, and a line south on Main street and Cemetery street to
Greenwood cemetery. The franchise was for fifty years.
Mr. Priest never dreamed that inside of ten years his car line,
which started off with such bright hopes, would be dug up and cast
aside by Decatur citizens. The line to the railroad station
was the only one built by him. Decatur had not yet reached a
place where such a service would be profitable. The time never
came when Mr. Priest was able to extend the service as provided for
in the franchise. Horse or mule power was used in drawing those
first street cars in Decatur. The use of a locomotive was
prohibited, and electric cars had not yet been heard of. The
cars followed a narrow gauge track beginning at the Old square and
running on North Main street to Cerro Gordo, then east to the
station, a mile in all. Passengers doubtless bounced up and
down as the cars were pulled along their bumpy way. Those first
cars were on-man and one-horse cars, not much more than dumpy little
boxes. They had been driving omnibuses for Mr. Priest who had
been running a bus line from his hotel on the square to the railroad
depot. The fare, 5 cents, was dropped in a box as now.
When the street cars were put into operation these two men were
"promoted" to the new line. Two cars were in service, there
being a passing track midway on the line. The cars started
simultaneously from each end of the line. The driver was not only
driver and conductor both, but he had another duty, a unique task.
It was his business to stop any place along the way and wake up the
patron who wanted to catch an early train out of town. If John
Doe left word to be called at 6:30 to make a train, Mr. Miller or
Mr. Taylor would halt his car, go to Doe's home and see that he was
awakened, then return to his car and proceed on his way. That
was service! But that was characteristic of Franklin Priest.
The story of his life in Decatur shows that one enterprise after
another he inaugurated to fill some need of the people.
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FRANKLIN PRIEST'S HOME
224 North Main Mr. Priest was the president and manager of
the company, and later his son, J. Frank Priest, became his
assistant manager. The car barns were at the rear of the
Priest home at 224 North Main street. A spur track was laid
from the main track in the street in the alley to the barn.
Mr. Priest maintained his offices in his home. Though the car
line was well patronized at first it never made enough money to
warrant any improvements, and instead of getting better the line
deteriorated. The town was growing. The car line was
getting poorer. It seemed doomed to failure. The final
straw that broke the camel's back was the organization of the
Citizens Street Railway company which started a new and a better car
service in 1883. The new company was composed of David S.
Shellabarger, William L. Ferguson and Arthur E. Kinney. They
constructed a line on the present route of the depot line of the
Illinois Power and Light corporation. Better cars were
secured, the line was better built, and better service was given.
Naturally the new line got the business. That spelled the
final defeat of Mr. Priest's enterprise. The Priest line stayed in
operation until 1886, but by that time it had become a laughing
stock. Considering it a discredit to the city, the council
ordered the tracks removed. The order was not heeded at once,
and one night the tracks were torn up and piled at the curb by irate
citizens. That meant the end of Mr. Priest's connection with
Decatur. He moved to Chicago where he spent the rest of his
life. He died there Jan. 17, 1890. The equipment of the Citizens
Street Railway company on its first line included three small cars,
each pulled by a mule. Within the next few years other lines
were built and soon the company was operating nine or ten cars with
horses and mules. Even a street car runaway was known then.
One day a frightened mule started to run, from in front of the St.
Nicholas, and dragged his street car behind him across the square
and up North Main before he was stopped. The Water and West Main
street lines were the first extensions. The line on West Main
was extended to the Wabash track and provide service to the baseball
park, south of West Main and east of the Wabash, sponsored by the
street railway company; also to Oakland park, which the street
railway company leased in 1884. Competition in the street car
business brought about the electrification of the line in 1889, and
gave Decatur the distinction of being the third city in the country
to have electric cars. Cincinnati and Detroit were the only
other two cities so equipped. The lines there were largely
experimental, so Decatur was about the very first to have electric
street cars. In the latter part of the year 1888 E. J. Martin came
to Decatur from Detroit and announced that he had come to build an
electric street car line. He was backed by Frank E. Snow and
other capitalists of Detroit. They selected Decatur because
they believed it was the most promising city in the west. Mr.
Snow and his associates were then developing motors and other
electric equipment. The new company naturally met opposition, even
in the city council, but finally it secured a franchise and began
building its line. The company, which was organized as the
Decatur Electric Street Railway company, asked for franchise for a
line from Lincoln square to the railroad station, by way of North
Main and Cerro Gordo streets, and later for a line to Riverside and
out North Edward street to the P. D. & E. (now Illinois Central,
Peoria division) A branch line was constructed out Pugh street
(now West Grand avenue) to Walnut Grove avenue. F. E. Snow was
president and treasurer, E. J. Martin vice president, and A. Heurtly
secretary the first year of the new company, generally used.
Guy J. Parke was manager. In 1891 the officers of the company were
I. R. Mills president, F. E. Snow vice president, and W. H.
Starr,
secretary and treasurer. J. W. Alexander was general manager
that year. The names are of local men but it was well
understood that Detroit men interested in the electric industry were
backers of the company. After the new company entered the field,
the Citizens Street Railway company decided it would electrify its
line, and then began a merry race to see which company would be
first with its new electric cars. The Citizens company managed
to finish first, by a few weeks. The company inserted the word
"electric" in its name.
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FIRST TRANSFER HOUSE For more than two years
Decatur had two street car companies, but neither made any money,
and finally in 1892, the two lines were consolidated. E. J.
Martin left Decatur at that time. The new company, after the
consolidation, was known as the City Electric Railway company.
It erected Decatur's first transfer house on Lincoln square as a
center for transferring passengers. That building did duty
until 1895, when the present transfer house was erected. The
street car business did not prove very profitable, and in September,
1899, the property was sold at auction to close out a receivership,
the line going to D. S. Shellabarger, acting for the bondholders,
himself and others. A new company was organized, taking the
name of the Decatur Traction and Electric company. It extended
the lines and made other improvements. W. B.
MCKINLEY BUYS The stock of the Decatur Traction and Electric
company was sold to the W. B. McKinley syndicate in July, 1903.
Mr. McKinley had tried to get the property at the foreclosure sale
in 1899. That year he bought out the Decatur Gas and Electric
company of which G. C. Danforth was president. This company
had been formed in 1898 by consolidation of the Decatur Gas Light
and Coke company, the Decatur Electric company and the Culver
Electric company. W. A. Bixby, who had been managing this property
since Jan. 1, 1900, for Mr. McKinley, took the management of the
street car line in 1903 when Mr. McKinley bought it. The Decatur
Railway and Light company was incorporated Nov. 25, 1903. This
was the company organized to manage all the McKinley properties
here, including the new heating plant, which had been installed by
the Decatur Gas and Electric company to sell heat from the plant on
Edward and Cerro Gordo streets. Following the purchase of street
car lines in Danville in 1900 by the McKinley interests came the
news that interurban lines connecting Central Illinois cities would
be built. [INSERT PICTURE
HERE]
ILLINOIS TRACTION SYSTEM SHOPS The first
line built out of Decatur by the Illinois Traction System, as the
system was called, was the line to Springfield, on which service was
started in September, 1904. The line to the north came next,
the first service to Clinton being given in January, 1906. The
line to Champaign was completed in June, 1907. Within nine years
from the time the building of interurban lines started, the Illinois
Traction System was operating 500 miles of track connecting Decatur,
Bloomington, Danville, Peoria, Champaign-Urbana, and St. Louis, Mo.
Besides these there were lines connecting LaSalle, Ottawa and other
cities in the northern part of the state. The general manager
of the Illinois Traction System was L. E. Fischer, now vice
president and general manager of the Illinois Power and Light
corporation. Mr. Fischer was in general charge while much of
the development of the system was going on. The Illinois Traction
System located its car shops at Decatur, building a large plat at
the northeast edge of the city in 1909 at a cost of more than
$100,000. On the first day of January, 1904, Merrill L. Harry
began his duties as manager of the McKinley properties in Decatur.
During the building of the interurban lines he had charge of much of
the work in connection with their construction. In 1923 the
McKinley properties were purchased by an organization now known as
the Illinois Power and Light corporation. Under the new
management Mr. Harry became Decatur division superintendent.
In 1926 he was named general manager of the Central Illinois group
of the I. P. L., which included Decatur, Clinton, Bloomington,
Peoria, Jacksonville, Monticello, Champaign, Urbana and Danville.
That position he held until his death Oct. 11, 1929. Mr. Harry was
succeeded in 1926 as Decatur division superintendent by Ira R. Abbott. E. W.
Fowler of Ottawa, Ill., succeeded Mr. Harry as
general manger of the Central Illinois group. As the city grew,
the street car system in Decatur underwent expansions. Its car
and bus lines now cover all parts of the city. Twenty-four
street cars and twenty-one motor buses are in sue, buses
having taken the place of cars on some streets. From the few
thousands of passengers carried in 1883 the number of passengers
increased to 6,500,00 in 1929. The electrical department of
the I. P. L. has 19,000 customers, and the gas department 13,000.
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