Danville Line

Danville Line
Overview
Locale	Indiana
Termini	Indianapolis Traction Terminal Danville station
Service
System	Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company
History
Opened	September 1, 1905 (1905-09-01)
Closed	October 31, 1930 (1930-10-31)
Technical
Character	Interurban
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route Legend Indianapolis Martinsville Line Terre Haute–Indianapolis Line Ben Hur Route Mt. Jackson Stop 1 Stop 2 Lynnhurst State Farm Stop 4 Stop 5 Stop 6 Stop 7 Stop 8 White Lick Stop 8 1/2 Stop 9 Stop 10 Stop 11 Griswold Stop 12 Stop 13 Huron Stop 14 Avon Gravel Pit Stop 15 Stop 16 Stop 17 Stop 18 Gale Stop 19 Stop 20 Stop 21 Stop 22 Stop 22 1/2 Danville This diagram: view talk edit

The Danville Line was an interurban railway line in Indiana. It ran between its namesake city, Danville, and the state capitol of Indianapolis.

Some earlier schemes had been advanced for an electric railway between Indianapolis and Danville but little progress had been made until the Indianapolis, Danville and Rockville Traction Company was incorporated in 1903 with a plan to build to Bainbridge and Rockville. ^[1] Work on the 20-mile (32 km) line between Avon and Danville began that year. ^[2] Most of the line had been graded by March 1904. ^[3] A Philadelphia-based syndicate acquired a controlling interest in the unfinished line in the summer of 1905 and pushed the construction to completion. There was a delay in securing material and labor, so that it was September 1, 1905, before regular service was inaugurated between Danville and Avon. ^[1]

The first car was run through from Danville to Indianapolis on August 30, 1906. ^[4] By the following summer, the line was hosting a daily freight run and fourteen passenger cars running hourly operation after the substation at Avon had been installed. ^{[5] [6]}

Operations were consolidated with other interurban railways as the Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company. Some attempts to connect the east end to the Terre Haute line at Amo were made with incentives to towns in 1912, but this extension was never built. ^[1] The line was rarely profitable, with the application for abandonment noting that recent years had been profitable only in 1920, 1921, and 1927. ^[7] Service along the line was abandoned along with several other Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Company routes on October 31, 1930. ^[8]

References

1. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain :Blackburn, Glen A. (September 1924). "Interurban Railroads of Indiana". Indiana Magazine of History. Vol. XX, no. 3. pp. 266–268. Retrieved August 26, 2025– via Google Books.
2. "News of the Week" (PDF). Street Railway Journal. Vol. XXII, no. 4. McGraw Publishing Company. July 25, 1903. p. 142. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
3. "To Danville, Ind., By July 1". The Indianapolis News. Indianapolis, Indiana. March 1, 1904. p. 13. Retrieved August 26, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
4. "First Car on Danville Line". Chronicle Tribune. Marion, Indiana. August 30, 1906. p. 3. Retrieved August 26, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
5. "Hourly Service to Begin". The Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis, Indiana. June 2, 1907. p. 7. Retrieved August 26, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
6. "Traction Lines are Opened". The Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis, Indiana. July 5, 1907. p. 9. Retrieved August 26, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
7. "Danville Traction Line to be Closed". The Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis, Indiana. August 6, 1930. p. 7. Retrieved August 26, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
8. "Buses to Take Place of Interurban Cars". The Indianapolis News. Indianapolis, Indiana. November 1, 1930. p. 2. Retrieved August 26, 2025– via Newspapers.com.