A Short History of Milwaukee’s Old Streetcar System
The city once had a dense system with 20 routes that helped change the city. Why did it die and what is its legacy?
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The city once had a dense system with 20 routes that helped change the city. Why did it die and what is its legacy? Back to the full article.
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Not mentioned here is the passage by congress in 1935 of the ‘Utilities Holding Company Act’ which forced generating companies to dispose of their transit lines. As of 1938, streetcars and interurbans were supposed to pay their own way; the result, barring the artificial stimulus caused by World War II, was disastrous. TMER&T (the free-standing transit company), did nothing to upgrade stock or service, and the result was andonment. Milwaukee mayor Frank Zeidler and others tried to establish a regional transit authority, but the state legislature of the time wouldn’t go along (which ought to sound familiar to Milwaukeeans of today.)
Where can one find a map showing all the former streetcar routes?
It was that last glass of Braumeister that fuddled my comment above; the word should be ‘abandonment.’
@Big Al: TMER&T used to issue system maps in the late 40’s and early 50’s. I’d start at the library’s map collection; also look for Bulletin 112 of the Central Electric Railfan’s Association, published in 1972. This is a dictionary-sized history of Milwaukee’s streetcar and interurban systems, full of maps and illustrations. Also, a couple of websites can provide various maps and links: http://www.tmer.org, and http://www.northshoreline.org. Ken Smith doesn’t mention it, but the North Shore system operated streetcar service on Wisconsin Avenue and along south Fifth and Sixth streets until 1951. On the North Shore site there’s an entertaining 1945-vintage film of a trip from Roosevelt Road in Chicago to the Milwaukee terminal at Sixth and Michigan.
The Milwaukee Transit Archives & Museum, the area’s archival museum for Milwaukee’s transit history, has a transit map collection, as well as a large framed map of city transit lines in 1915. There are also several smaller pamphlets containing streetcar routes as early as 1909. A copy of the CERA Bulletin 112 on the “TM” is also available for viewing and research. The museum, located at 2270 S. 102nd St. in West Allis, is open to the public most Mondays and Thursdays from 11 to 4, or by arranging a visit by phoning 414-345-7210. More information and photos are on the website at http://www.milwtransit.org.
The North Shore Line did operate local streetcar service in Milwaukee until 1951, with interurban service to Chicago lasting until 1963. City cars traveled from Oklahoma Av. along private right-of-way to Harrison St., then via 5th and 6th Sts. and the 6th St. viaduct to the Milwaukee depot at 6th & Michigan. Prior to 1920, city cars traveled along N. 5th St., then east on W. Wells St. and south on N. 2nd St.to a storefront depot near Wisconsin Av. An operating HO model layout of the NSL Milwaukee Depot and the entire city block that it sat upon is on permanent display at the Milwaukee Transit Archives & Museum.
The impact upon Milwaukee from the simultaneous National City Lines conspiracy, though never fully examined regarding TMER&L itself, cannot be diminished if only because of the national attitudes and prejudices fostered by the NCL executives and corporations against rail transit despite their later federal convictions on charges of conspiracy.
http://www.chicagorailfan.com/mkehist.html
I was interested in hard historical info-old maps of the lines and the like-instead of preachy, politic-based tripe. Waste of time.