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Aurora-Elgin Area Street Cars & Interurbans, Fox River Division Vol 2 by Hopkins
Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric Company Vol 2 Street Cars & Interurbans by Hopkins Stolp Peffers
Hard Cover w/Dust Jacket
184 pages
Copyright 1993
CONTENTS
Overview of Street and Interurban Railways In The Aurora - Elgin Area7
The One - Man Car Era, The Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric Company 1923 -1935 Aurora City Operations10
Elgin City Operations38
Aurora - Elgin and Elgin - Carpentersville Interurban Lines60
Aurora Street Scenes98
Early Transportation in Aurora Before 1900122
Early Transportation in Elgin Before 1900138
Sparks From The Trolley163
DUST JACKET INTRODUCTION
Few events were as important to the development of cities in the first part of the twentieth century as the operation of trolleys. They were a part of everyday life for practically everyone who wanted or needed transportation. Hopkins Stolp Peffers lived in this era and relates his memories, first hand, in this four-volume history of the Aurora-Elgin Area Street Cars & Interurbans.
Ambling recollections, nostalgic, at times poignant, take the reader on a journey through time, back when life was simpler - when a truly unique method of transportation linked rural American towns not only with each other, but with big cities twenty, thirty, even a hundred miles away. He recalls the heyday of the trolley in his youth and traces its evolution as long as it lasted in the Fox River Valley area. The immediacy, enthusiasm, and delight never wanes. He is to be credited with keeping a log, and then over a 25-year period completing the narrative. This is a history - ending on July 3, 1957.
Volume 2 covers the history and operations of a new company that was formed, in 1924, to take over the street car and interurban lines in the Fox River Valley from the then bankrupt Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railroad. Known as the Aurora, Elgin & Fox River Electric Company, it modernized the system and increased service, mainly through the purchase of seven new lightweight interurban cars and 48 safety cars for local operations. The company prospered for several years, but the loss of riders due to the private automobile and the Great Depression of the 1930s, caused the company to abandon the trolleys and substitute buses. The last car ran March 31, 1935.
Also included in this book are histories of the electric street railways in Aurora and Elgin before 1900, among the earliest in the nation. Finally, Peffers consolidates many old photos of street cars and interurbans on the streets of Aurora and then reminds us of many miscellaneous items that were part of street railway lore.
Volume 1 covers The Elgin, Aurora & Southern Traction Company, and The Fox River Division of The Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railroad 1901-1923, both street cars and interurbans.
Volume 3 covers The Third Rail Division of the Aurora, Elgin & Chicago Railroad, and The Chicago, Aurora & Elgin, 1901-1959.
Volume 4 covers The Connecting Interurbans; Fox & Illinois Union; Aurora, Plainfield & Joliet; Chicago, Aurora & DeKalb; DeKalb-Sycamore; Woodstock & Sycamore; and Elgin & Belvidere.
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