by Ed Gentry, Independent Writer

The February 18, 1913 edition of the St. Joseph News-Press proclaimed, “Officials of the new St. Joseph-Kansas City Interurban were delighted with their visit here.” PLEASED WITH ST. JOSEPH read the article describing the enthusiasm of the eastern financiers who arrived on one of the “handsome steel coaches” of the new railroad, and afterward “toured the city in motor cars following a luncheon at the Hotel Robidoux. The coach is much larger than the cars used on the St. Joseph-Savannah electric line and its motors are of much greater power. It is a marvel of comfort and convenience and the finishing throughout is beautiful.”

The plug on this electric railroad was pulled in 1933 as

America went deeper into the Depression, and I grew up knowing none of this. As a newcomer to

St. Joseph, I have only seen pictures of the Hotel Robidoux, and the shopping

Mecca, which was Downtown St. Joseph. But my hometown in southern

Illinois had its own vibrant Downtown in the 1950s, and I am old enough to remember “the way things were” before the Interstate Highways were built. I have boyhood memories of Illinois Central steam in

Carbondale, Illinois, and that’s it.

Considerable north and south railroad traffic runs through downtown

St. Joseph alongside the

Missouri River still – it’s the same right- of- way used since the 1850s. Two relics of the Steam age in

St. Joseph exist, the Burlington Northern 1940s steamer on static display in the park across from the Pony Express Museum, and the priceless replica of the 1860s Hannibal & St. Joseph RR inside the

Patee

House

Museum.

As much as anybody I’ve always loved Steam Locomotives with all of the chugging, hissing, fuss and bother, but in reality the electric Diesel locomotive was Progress—producing no soot and less smoke, needing 50% less man power, and it ended the Golden Age of Steam. And that was then, this is now…

Outside of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, and not including new “light-rail” urban lines like MetroLink in St. Louis, here in the United States non-Diesel, electric railroad systems are non-existent. This is not so in

Europe and

Japan where gasoline costs five dollars a gallon and sleek, modern electric railroading competes with the Autobahns to connect cities.

I find it absolutely fascinating, once upon a time, 90 years ago, high speed electric railroads operated not just between Washington DC and Boston, but also across the whole USA, the Midwest, southern California, and yes, right here in Northwest Missouri.

WHAT IS AN INTERURBAN?

Hard roads in

Platte, Clay and

Buchanan

Counties were non-existent in 1911 when 1,500 men began the grading and heavy concrete work for a high-speed electric railway northward from the retail business center of

Kansas City, Missouri. The KCCCC&STJ railway was in the terminology of the day–an Interurban.

The term described the electric traction systems being built to compete with Steam, decades before the invention of Diesel locomotives. In the first decade of the 20th Century electrified railway systems were seen as the “last word” in travel. Americans, and Joetowners, saw electricity as THE symbol of the modern age.

At the peak of the interurban craze in 1916, these lines had built over 18,000 miles of track and operated over 10,000 cars. Actually, most were extensions of city streetcar lines with lightweight track and could be termed “country trolleys.” The St. Joseph Railway, Light, Heat and Power Company, which operated the city trolley system, began, on July 5, 1910, construction of a 13-mile trolley roadway to

Andrew

County competing with the existing steam Chicago Great Western RR. Opened in 1911, this line was called the St. Joseph-Savannah Interurban. The route headed north on the streetcar line down St. Joseph Avenue, its right-of-way in Andrew County later became Route 71, and the line terminated four blocks west of the square in Savannah — Last Run: July 22, 1939.

The Kansas City, Clay County &St Joseph Railway by comparison was designed to steam railroad specifications including heavy rail, crushed rock ballast., and the latest in all-steel traction equipment. This project had nicknames such as the “Excelsior Springs Line” or the “

Clay

County,” (because that was the first section open for operation in 1913), but the RR billed itself the Missouri Short Line. Most here in St. Joe called it “The Interurban.”

From its start-up in 1913, the line increased steadily in profitability until 1923 when passenger receipts topped the $1,000,000 mark and net profits were $455,000. Within a decade those profits were erased with the coming of the gas guzzling Internal Combustion automobile, and the line died March 10, 1933, exactly 75 years ago. In

St. Joseph a sturdy, boxy red brick building at the southwest corner of
8th Street

and

Angelic Street

now houses an enterprise called The Motor Shop. That structure at

510 South 8th Street

was the Interurban freight depot for

St. Joseph, and still stands.

I am a Preservationist, and last year with the help of “movers and shakers” in the Kansas City Northland, an Interurban landmark in Platte County —a 50 foot two arched concrete bridge—was saved from destruction by the Kansas City public works department. Now we are seeking a Parks organization, or Civic group to help with the responsibility of this small bridge. Other fascinating relics of the KCCC&StJ remain; undoubtedly the best is passenger CAR 43, actually preserved inside a house in the

Kansas City, Northland. It also is in danger.

I have produced a 50-minute movie about our efforts to save these endangered relics of St. Joe’s “Interurban.” My film is called “Save the Todd Creek Bridge,” and the premiere showing will be on the big screen at , Thursday, April 3rd, in the newly equipped Video Conference room at the

Washington

Park library. Parking is available around the Library.

See you there!

Ed Gentry www.interurbanroad.com <http://www.interurbanroad.com/>  

Posted by: admin on Friday, March 21st, 2008
Filed under: Old Joe, General |