Never Quite Made it To Kankakee: The Kankakee & Urbana Traction Company

The Kankakee & Urbana Traction Company Railroad was an interurban electric line that was planned to run between its namesake cities, and further was planned to extend all the way to Chicago, and other points beyond the two cities. Most ambitious were plans to use the Illinois Traction Company to connect all the way to St. Louis.

It never made it north of Paxton. Had it connected to Kankakee, it could have used other interurbans to connect all the way to Chicago, namely the Chicago & Southern, later known as the Chicago & Interurban Traction Line to Harvey, and then the Illinois Central Electric Line north into downtown.

Image via George Friedman's wonderfully detailed blog on the line.

After a couple years of planning, the line came into fruition in 1906. Like many interurban lines, financial pressures would force the line to close in 1926. Although right of way was graded north of Paxton, and even some track was laid, it could never make it north. 

Foreman Fritz and his team laying the first track, August 15, 1911.  This is the track that was never used. — Urbana Courier 8/15/1911 and 10/31/1912 (Friedman)

Much of the right-of-way was ceded to construct US Route 45, which today connects the two cities (and runs north-south across the entire US.)

Replica timetable.


I purchased a copy of the 1/1/1925 timetable from the Fox River Trolley Museum, indicating a stop, "Sharp's", which remains a lavender farm to this day. 

Image: Sharp's Crossing Lavendar, "In 1914 an electric, interurban line, known as the Kankakee-Urbana Traction Company, ran just east of the house to Urbana.  Both grain from the elevator and passengers could be transported between the rural towns.  This particular intersection with US Route 45 was called Sharp's Crossing."

Thanks as always for reading!


Location: Paxton, IL 60957, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Underwater Water Slide: Fly Over at Durinrell TikiBad

Image
Have you ever wished to experience being transferred from one pool of liquid to another via a pipe? Had you visited the Dutch water park known as Durinrell , also known as Tikibad before 2010, you would have had the chance. Half water slide, half war crime, this was a unique water slide that was filled to the brim with water, leaving riders completely submerged throughout the journey. Image:  XtremeRidesNL Known as the Fly Over was an underwater water slide, which is exactly how it sounds, and transported riders from one pool to another using the water as propulsion. Built in 1994, riders dove underwater to access the slide, using gravity to transport them upwards via the Communicating Vessels Principle . Riders would be completely underwater for about 15-20 seconds. This is how I imagine those 15-20 seconds felt like while riding the slide. The slide was built to drain water in five seconds or less in case a rider got stuck in the slide or had a medical emergency, but the threat tha
Read more

Railroad Vocabulary: A List of Words and Phrases Used in the Industry - Updated February 2024

Image
As somebody who enjoyed watching trains, but was not an employee of the railroad industry ( at least growing up ), when I would interact with railfans and historians, there was often a lot of technical jargon that applied only to the railroad industry thrown back and forth that made it difficult for a newcomer to understand what they were talking about. For example, what is a dinky? It's actually a passenger train. This non-inclusive language seems to keep the loop closed to members of the community, and to uncouple (no pun intended) that technical jargon and help make it easier for people to communicate with people in the industry, I am creating a list of railroad vocabulary that I'm hoping will make the industry more transparent.  BNSF 2361 . Image: Matt Flores While I ultimately believe that such technical jargon has no place outside of perhaps technical communications between employees, I know quite well that I alone am not going to stop people from communicating in a non-i
Read more

The Abandoned Route 66 in McCook, IL

Image
Route 66, the iconic "Main Street of America," weaves through the heart of the United States, connecting communities and embodying the spirit of adventure. However, not all sections of this historic highway have stood the test of time. While much of the former US 66 is drivable in one way or another, especially in Illinois, there are some parts are not.  One of the first such roadblocks for would-be travelers heading from Chicago to Los Angeles via the Mother Road, now known as Joliet Road, comes just outside of Chicago in McCook, IL, where the former highway is closed between 55th St and East Ave, and has been for over two decades. (Link to the location on our Ghost Towns Map ) Image: Google Maps at 55th and Joliet Rd in McCook, IL The land that the quarry would eventually take over was part of Stinson Airport in the early days of Route 66, dating back to before 1930. ( Abandoned Airports map ). 1938 USGS Aerial Imagery The quarrying on the south side of the road would
Read more