The Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway was an interurban line running from Kansas City, Missouri through downtown Overland Park to Olathe in Kansas. It ran from 1906 until July 9, 1940 and was the last of the interurban trolley lines in the Kansas City metropolitan area. [1] It was called the "Strang Line" for Johnson County developer William B. Strang Jr. [2]
William Strang was an established land and railroad developer when he first envisioned the idea of an interurban streetcar line connecting downtown Kansas City to Johnson County as early as 1903, while visiting his mother in Kansas City. [3] Strang bought 600 acres of rural land in 1905, founding and developing the suburb of Overland Park. [4] Using the right-of-way of the old Santa Fe Trail, Strang built the Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway as a means to attract new people to his community. [3]
The railway opened in 1906, running between Kansas City and Overland Park. [3] In 1908, the line was expanded southwest to serve Lenexa and Olathe. [5] The line used combination diesel and electric trolley cars, which were housed and maintained in the Strang Carbarn. [6] The expenses of the still-new diesel-electric technology compelled Strang to install overhead wires to power the cars, with power generated from the Carbarn. [7]
The first decade of the railway's operation coincided with the peak of Interurban railways' popularity as a mode of transit. The Strang Line was one of numerous Streetcar and Interurban lines in the Kansas City area, serving thousands daily. Before the automobile became widely available, the public relied on Interurbans as a cheap and convenient way to travel long distance. Though not very profitable on its own, the price of Strang's speculative properties skyrocketed as a result of his railway, and the railway attracted prospective homebuyers to Overland Park where they could enjoy a suburban lifestyle as well as the economic benefits of Kansas City. [8]
As early as 1916, the Strang Line began to struggle to compete with a rising preference for buses and cars as means of shipping and transit. [9] William Strang died in 1921, and longtime right-hand man Thomas "Cap" Riley succeeded Strang as president of the railway. [8] [10] In the winter of 1925, the roof and interior of the Carbarn in Overland Park were destroyed in a fire and had to be rebuilt. [11] [4] The economic hardship of the Great Depression had an adverse affect on the Strang Line's ridership. In 1932, Riley announced a fare reduction to 65 cents. At the same time, all employees took a 25% pay cut, and all officers took 30% pay cut. [10] The railway struggled through the 1930s, and by November 1937, the opening of 50 Highway and K-10 allowed cars to travel the length of the Strang Line in half the time. [9]
Like other streetcars and interurbans of the time, the lack of modern construction, safety, and signaling standards meant that Strang Line vehicles often collided with other streetcars, automobiles, livestock, and people. Robberies and fires were also not uncommon. On May 17, 1939, a short circuit caused a Strang Line car to notably burst into flames in downtown Kansas City. [8]
The Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway declared bankruptcy in 1940. [7] By its closure on July 9th, 1940, the Strang Line was the last remaining Interurban in Kansas City. The line's closure attracted significant public attention, as passengers went as far as to make off with the streetcar's seat cushions as souvenirs. The line's final intended round-trip departed downtown with 82 passengers in a 55-seat vehicle, and needed to be boarded by police within the first ten blocks telling the riotous passengers to calm down. Riders had damaged the car so much by the time the line arrived to its southwestern end in Olathe that Thomas Riley canceled the return trip to downtown. [8]
Urban rail transit returned to Kansas City in 2016 with the opening of the KC Streetcar. Part of its route, on Main Street between 9th Street and Pershing Road, are shared with the old route of the Strang Line. [12]
After the closure of the Strang Line, all of its rails and most of its infrastructure were abandoned and torn down. The Strang Carbarn in Overland Park still exists at 79th Street and Santa Fe Drive, currently the home of Traditions Furniture in Downtown Overland Park. [6] The former Strang Line depot at 80th Street and Santa Fe Drive was purchased by the Overland Park Historical Society in 2019 and still stands today. [8] [13] A small waiting station, originally situated near the intersection of 53rd Street and Lamar Avenue, was moved to a Lenexa farm after the line's closure and was eventually donated to the Lenexa Historical Society. The station can be found at the Society's complex today. [5]
The northern terminus of the Strang Line was at the intersection of 9th and Main Streets in Downtown Kansas City. [8] The northern section of the line was street-running and traveled through urban areas of Kansas City. At 39th Street, the route turned west and crossed the state line, arriving in Rosedale, Kansas. South of Rosedale the line followed the Santa Fe Trail, serving Milburn Country Club, Downtown Overland Park, and an airfield also built by William Strang. [11] [12] Southwest of Overland Park the line served Lenexa before arriving at its southern terminus in Downtown Olathe. [5]
William Strang is regarded as the founder of Overland Park. Strang envisioned a park-like community along the Overland Trail, above the floodplain of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. Strang created Overland Park as an early Suburban community, free from Kansas City's hustle, noise, crowded and rising population, and frequent flooding. Overland Park was made to cater to the middle class, with more modest homes as opposed to suburbs developed by Strang's contemporaries like J. C. Nichols for wealthier homeowners. The Strang Line allowed people the opportunity to work and shop in Kansas City while living in the quieter and more open Overland Park, while also shipping freight between cities. Strang also provided urban amenities like gas, electricity, and indoor plumbing to Overland Park. The Strang Carbarn became a major driver of employment in Overland Park's early years, and the Strang Line Depot became the heart of Overland Park's downtown. The Strang Line and Strang's other visionary ideas were a driving factor behind Overland Park's unprecedented growth. Today, Overland Park is the second-largest city in the state of Kansas. [7] [13]
Johnson County is a county in the U.S. state of Kansas, along the border of the state of Missouri. Its county seat is Olathe. As of the 2020 census, the population was 609,863, the most populous county in Kansas. The county was named after Thomas Johnson, a Methodist missionary who was one of the state's first settlers. Largely suburban, the county contains a number of suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri, including Overland Park, a principal city of and second most populous city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area.
Overland Park is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and the second-most populous city in the state of Kansas. It is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the most populous suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 197,238.
The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system in the world in the 1920s. Organized around the city centers of Los Angeles and San Bernardino, it connected cities in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County and Riverside County.
The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad was a Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railroad (UP), Southern Branch, it came to serve an extensive rail network in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In 1988, it merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad; today, it is part of UP.
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri and Kansas. With 8,472 square miles (21,940 km2) and a population of more than 2.2 million people, it is the second-largest metropolitan area centered in Missouri and is the largest metropolitan area in Kansas, though Wichita is the largest metropolitan area centered in Kansas. Alongside Kansas City, Missouri, these are the suburbs with populations above 100,000: Overland Park, Kansas; Kansas City, Kansas; Olathe, Kansas; Independence, Missouri; and Lee's Summit, Missouri.
New York State Railways was a subsidiary of the New York Central Railroad that controlled several large city streetcar and electric interurban systems in upstate New York. It included the city transit lines in Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Oneida and Rome, plus various interurban lines connecting those cities. New York State Railways also held a 50% interest in the Schenectady Railway Company, but it remained a separate independent operation. The New York Central took control of the Rochester Railway Company, the Rochester and Eastern Rapid Railway and the Rochester and Sodus Bay Railway in 1905, and the Mohawk Valley Company was formed by the railroad to manage these new acquisitions. New York State Railways was formed in 1909 when the properties controlled by the Mohawk Valley Company were merged. In 1912 it added the Rochester and Suburban Railway, the Syracuse Rapid Transit Railway, the Oneida Railway, and the Utica and Mohawk Valley Railway. The New York Central Railroad was interested in acquiring these lines in an effort to control the competition and to gain control of the lucrative electric utility companies that were behind many of these streetcar and interurban railways. Ridership across the system dropped through the 1920s as operating costs continued to rise, coupled with competition from better highways and private automobile use. New York Central sold New York State Railways in 1928 to a consortium led by investor E. L. Phillips, who was looking to gain control of the upstate utilities. Phillips sold his stake to Associated Gas & Electric in 1929, and the new owners allowed the railway bonds to default. New York State Railways entered receivership on December 30, 1929. The company emerged from receivership in 1934, and local operations were sold off to new private operators between 1938 and 1948.
The Illinois Terminal Railroad Company, known as the Illinois Traction System until 1937, was a heavy duty interurban electric railroad with extensive passenger and freight business in central and southern Illinois from 1896 to 1956. When Depression era Illinois Traction was in financial distress and had to reorganize, the Illinois Terminal name was adopted to reflect the line's primary money making role as a freight interchange link to major steam railroads at its terminal ends, Peoria, Danville, and St. Louis. Interurban passenger service slowly was reduced, ending in 1956. Freight operation continued but was hobbled by tight street running in some towns requiring very sharp radius turns. In 1956, ITC was absorbed by a consortium of connecting railroads.
The Oklahoma Railway Company (ORy) operated interurban lines to El Reno, Guthrie, and Norman, and several streetcar lines in Oklahoma City, and the surrounding area from 1904 to 1947.
The Fort Collins Municipal Railway operated streetcars in Fort Collins, Colorado, from 1919 until 1951. Since 1984, a section of one of the former routes has been in operation as a seasonal heritage streetcar service, under the same name, running primarily on Spring and Summer weekends. The heritage service is operated by volunteers from the Fort Collins Municipal Railway Society (FCMRS). The streetcar in use on the heritage line, Birney "Safety" Streetcar No. 21, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Los Angeles Railway was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent local services which complemented the Pacific Electric "Red Car" system's largely commuter-based interurban routes. The company carried many more passengers than the Red Cars, which served a larger and sparser area of Los Angeles.
The Yakima Valley Transportation Company was an interurban electric railroad headquartered in Yakima, Washington. It was operator of the city's streetcar system from 1907–1947, and it also provided the local bus service from the 1920s until 1957.
The Central California Traction Company is a Class III short-line railroad operating in the northern San Joaquin Valley, in San Joaquin County, California. It is owned jointly by the Union Pacific and BNSF Railway.
The Sacramento Northern Railway was a 183-mile (295 km) electric interurban railway that connected Chico in northern California with Oakland via the state capital, Sacramento. In its operation it ran directly on the streets of Oakland, Sacramento, Yuba City, Chico, and Woodland. This involved multiple car trains making sharp turns at street corners and obeying traffic signals. Once in open country, SN's passenger trains ran at fairly fast speeds. With its shorter route and lower fares, the SN provided strong competition to the Southern Pacific and Western Pacific Railroad for passenger business and freight business between those two cities. North of Sacramento, both passenger and freight business was less due to the small town agricultural nature of the region and due to competition from the paralleling Southern Pacific Railroad.
William B. Strang Jr. (1857–1921) was an American railroad magnate who platted Overland Park, Kansas and is considered the founder of the community. In 1905, Strang purchased 600 acres south of Kansas City, Missouri and adjacent to present day Metcalf Avenue and 80th Street. "Strang envisioned a "park-like" community that was self-sustaining and well planned. He also sought strong commerce, quality education, vibrant neighborhoods, convenient transportation and accommodating recreational facilities."
The Kansas City and Olathe Electric Railway was a 7.1-mile (11.4 km) electric interurban rail line between Kansas City, Missouri, and Olathe, Kansas. When it began operation in 1908, it ran from Rosedale, southwest through South Park to Merriam, then west to Shawnee. The road was abandoned in 1934.
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The Arkansas Valley Interurban Railway (AVI) was an interurban railway that operated in Kansas, United States, from 1910 to 1938 for passengers and to 1942 for freight, running between Wichita, Newton, and Hutchinson. It operated a small fleet of electrically powered passenger and freight equipment. Service was suspended during World War II and never resumed, except on a small portion owned the Hutchinson and Northern Railroad which is still in operation. (2020)
The Chicago and Joliet Electric Railway, or C&JE, was an electric interurban railway linking the cities of Chicago and Joliet, Illinois. It was the only interurban between those cities and provided a link between the streetcar network of Chicago and the cities along the Des Plaines River Valley in north central Illinois, which were served by the Illinois Valley Division of the Illinois Traction System.
Streetcars in Los Angeles over history have included horse-drawn streetcars and cable cars, and later extensive electric streetcar networks of the Los Angeles Railway and Pacific Electric Railway and their predecessors. Also included are modern light rail lines.