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[BigRedDog]

Here's some info on the interurban wreck from above that we discussed on here a couple of years ago.  When I did this map I put the wreck at the opposite end of the long sweep from Maple Blvd. to the main rail line based on it being near pollywog pond... This is why it's important to get all this history written down somewhere...   a couple of more generations and it will all be gone!!!

Modified to add the link:

https://monroetalks.com/forum/index.php?topic=18435.msg450465#msg450465

[BigRedDog]

I think it's right across from Lincoln Ave. Love that area.... Wonder if there was a stop right where that parking lot is (a little west of this pic) now?

I take cream in my coffee, BTW. No sugar. ;0)

I'm not sure how the stops worked...   I think you could just flag it down and it would stop.  At least that's the way it worked out in the country.

I've been in the house you're talking about a few times.  There's an enclosed porch on the back of it that could have been open back then I suppose...

There's also a white house 2 homes east of there...   I can't see a porch on the back in the streetview photo...  but of course the porch could have changed by now too.  And the brick home between them is probably just new enough to have not been there at the time.

My wife brought home some CoffeeMate Italian Sweet Creme creamer and I actually thought of you

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.917,-83.392158&spn=0.003277,0.006968&hnear=La+Salle,+Monroe,+Michigan&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=41.917038,-83.392287&panoid=blA9F0Sx0Iz_OXv_JSF1Mw&cbp=12,153.73,,0,-0.69

[BigRedDog]

Here's another great source for online photos of the interurbans and other Monroe area history...

I'll post some of the interurban pics here and add some comments later...   

work is getting in the way of fun this morning

http://contentdm.monroe.lib.mi.us/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=any&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=/pmm&CISOBOX1=down&CISOSORT=title|r

[BigRedDog]

The next several pictures I post will be from the Monroe Library collection.

Does anyone know exactly where this was taken?

The library caption just says it was streetcar tracks leading down to the Piers.

[ducksoup]

Thanks for the cool history stuffage.  I love to read it even if I usually have nothing of value to add.

I have two questions.  Has anyone been in the car barn?  Is it just a big empty space, or cool stuff inside?

Who owns the car barn?  Does the city own it, or some other entity?

[Professor H]

Here's some info on the interurban wreck from above that we discussed on here a couple of years ago.  When I did this map I put the wreck at the opposite end of the long sweep from Maple Blvd. to the main rail line based on it being near pollywog pond... This is why it's important to get all this history written down somewhere...   a couple of more generations and it will all be gone!!!

Modified to add the link:

https://monroetalks.com/forum/index.php?topic=18435.msg450465#msg450465

Fun to hear those terms - as I grew up on Michigan Avenue, and the pollywog pond was a fun place for years.  I haven't checked to see it it's still there.

[Professor H]

Thanks for the cool history stuffage.  I love to read it even if I usually have nothing of value to add.

I have two questions.  Has anyone been in the car barn?  Is it just a big empty space, or cool stuff inside?

Who owns the car barn?  Does the city own it, or some other entity?

It used to be a beer distributor warehouse and recently it is an indoor golf range open in the winter months.  I know who runs it - but don't know who owns the building.

[Professor H]

Here's a different view of the car barn that Professor H posted last week...   did anyone ever identify the location?

I believe this photo is of Front St. back in the year of 1900.

The MCCC site says this is from 1915 and by then the owner was DUR, Detroit United Railway.

Top Picture is looking to the South - and the building on the Left of the car barn is one of the old firehouses - the tall structure was used for drying the hose after it was used.
 
You can see a similar tall almost steeple like structure on the second picture - looking east from the "Front/First" merger  - that is where the Central Fire Station was located - now a vacant lot.

The last picture has St. Mary's Church behind it - for those who didn't recognize the building.

[BigRedDog]

Top Picture is looking to the South - and the building on the Left of the car barn is one of the old firehouses - the tall structure was used for drying the hose after it was used.
 
You can see a similar tall almost steeple like structure on the second picture - looking east from the "Front/First" merger  - that is where the Central Fire Station was located - now a vacant lot.

The last picture has St. Mary's Church behind it - for those who didn't recognize the building.

So were both of those fire stations in use at the same time...

seems quite close together even for horses

[BigRedDog]

This article from the library is about the sale of the interurban powerhouse that sat on the NE corner of Elm and Monroe Streets.  Recently it has been a bank  and a real estate office and now it's a veterinarian's office.

http://monroe.lib.mi.us/eresearch/recommended_sites/history/bygones_monroe/power_house.htm

From the above link:

This corner, together with the other holdings of the Eastern Michigan Toledo Railway Company in the same block, was purchased by John S. McMillan to make way for the widening of North Monroe street. Approximately half of the power house property, or a strip 71 feet wide and 134 feet deep will be deeded to the city for the widening of the street. The remainder of the 110,000 spare feet involved in the entire purchase will be sold and the profits turned over to the Monroe Industrial Commission.

The power house was built in the summer of 1900 by the J. G. White Company of New York for the old Monroe and Toledo electric line. In those days the line ran only to Toledo and to the Monroe Piers and it was not until some time later that the company became the Detroit, Monroe & Toledo Short Line Railway.

The local power house was maintained after the lines became a part of the D. U. R. system and continued to furnish electric power for the running of all cars between the city limits of Detroit and Toledo. The plant was discontinued here June 10, 1924, when the company began using Detroit Edison current. Dismantling was begun in 1927.

In the early days all cars ran out of Monroe and the local car barn housed all or most of the [indecipherable]. Recently only two trains and a work car were kept here and the importance of the plant here dwindled almost to nothing.

For a great many years the power plant was in charge of Thomas Lloyd and was considered one of the most efficient stations in the D. U. R. service.

The above is what I found most tied to the interurban system but there is a lot more info about the corner and the general history of Monroe in the article.

[BigRedDog]

This is another article from the library.  This is not the same wreck that I mentioned above...

this one actually happened up near River Rouge but there were a few people from Monroe involved.  Any of our members related to anyone mentioned in the article

http://monroe.lib.mi.us/eresearch/recommended_sites/history/bygones_monroe/detroit_short_line.htm

[BigRedDog]

This was the cover for a time table from near the end of the interurban's existence...

Rather than show the name of a president or other corporate officer it mentions "the receiver":

[BigRedDog]

I found this picture on Mayonnaise's history site:



I'm guessing it was taken from the 4 story building where Jay's Smokehouse was originally located...   the Fox Club building to others

It clearly shows the smokestack from the interurban powerhouse on the skyline of Monroe!

[BigRedDog]

A note on the photo in my post above....   it's a beautiful panoramic view of downtown Monroe, but if you have trouble seeing it or getting it to pan, it might be easier to see it here:

http://monroelosthistory.wordpress.com/my-photographs/

This is the site Mayonnaise has:  http://monroelosthistory.wordpress.com/

[BigRedDog]

One of the reasons it's difficult to figure out all the various info on the interurban that ran through downtown Monroe is that it went by several names in just a few short years.  And once it was part of the DUR (Detroit United Railway) it was just a "small part"

Here's a synopsis that sounds pretty accurate based on numerous other articles I've read:

Monroe Traction Company: The Monroe Traction Company of 1901 was actually a Michigan interurban but would connect to Toledo in later years. In 1902 the system was renamed the Toledo & Monroe Railway and a year later was known as the Detroit, Monroe & Toledo Short Line Railway. It changed hands again as the Detroit United Railway in 1906 and remained under this direction until services were suspended in 1928.

From:  http://www.american-rails.com/ohio-interurbans.html

Another factor that adds confusion is that for many years there was also a Detroit, Monroe and Toledo Shore Line Railroad which is part of the eastern most group of tracks running through Monroe now.