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During the nineteenth century, city-dwellers especially found it expensive and inconvenient to own and care for their own
horse and carriage, so delivery services were common and horse-drawn cabs and trolleys took people where they needed to go
in town. For longer distances, the locomotive was the very symbol of high technology, industry, and rapid transportation,
linking cities from coast to coast.
As the twentieth century dawned, public transportation relied on three power sources: steam from coal- or wood-burning boilers,
electricity, and the gasoline- or diesel-fueled internal combustion engine. The advantages over the horse were plain: an engine
out of service does not need to be fueled, and when in service, it never needs a rest.
Electric-powered streetcars replaced horse-drawn trolleys in cities large and small. Links between cities and towns were soon
added, creating a network of intersecting lines serving the entire region. In fact, the first interurban line in the United States connected Newark
and Granville, Ohio, while the most profitable and heavily utilized line in the state was the Akron, Bedford, and Cleveland
Line, completed in 1895. By World War I, Ohio had almost 2,800 miles of track. Interurban cars were light weight and efficient,
allowing them to make stops at rural sidings on an as-needed basis, as well as providing scheduled passenger and freight service.
During the early years of Bowling Green Normal College, many students took advantage of this convenient transportation, living
in Toledo or outlying communities and commuting in to Bowling Green to attend class daily.
Local trains served those traveling to and from the country, stopping any time they were signaled. The "limited" trains made
city and town stops only. Special cars could be chartered for service between any two points, for a guaranteed number of fares.
A 1 1/2 hour trip from Fostoria to Toledo cost $.65 (or $1.20 round trip), with eighteen scheduled departures daily. Businesses,
too, used the interurbans to carry freight between cities and farmers used the freight service to haul crops to market.
Was it simply the advent of the automobile that doomed the American interurban? Probably not. The construction and maintenance
of a rail line required a huge investment in right-of-way, power generation and transmission, and rolling stock, to say nothing
of employees for service and maintenance. Most companies existed less than ten years in their original form, and probably
did not last long enough to recover their start-up costs and return a profit; many companies merged and sold off parts of
lines in order to keep going. Meanwhile, automakers began manufacturing buses and short-haul trucks to compete directly with
interurban services. But it was the Great Depression which finally put an end to almost all interurban companies.
--Lee N. McLaird
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Trainmen pose with an interurban railcar in about 1910. Many interurban lines served the northwest Ohio region. This car
was probably part of the Maumee Valley Railway and Light system. CAC General Photograph Collection. Gift of Julius Witzler