Princeton’s Interurban wreck of 1911 – Shaw Local

May 9, 2025 princetonmays Uncategorized

Princeton resident Bill Nelson holds a piece of the Interurban rail whicch was found when Car Quest was being built next to the Pizza Hut. (Photo contributed)
PRINCETON — San Francisco might be famous for its street cars, but in Princeton’s past, street cars were a major mode of transportation.
The Interurban, as it was called, was part of Princeton’s transportation system from 1907 until 1929, when service to Princeton was discontinued. First owned by the Chicago, Ottawa and Peoria Railway and later by the Illinois Traction System, the first car to Princeton was run on Feb. 15, 1907.
The main line ended at the railroad tracks on the north side of town. The Interurban rails traveled south with a siding onto Franklin Street. The tracks then ran through town on Main Street, heading south until they reached Bryant’s Nursery. There, the tracks went southeast to Bureau, DePue, Marquette, Spring Valley, Peru and finally all the way to Joliet.
Fares at the time were included: Princeton to Spring Valley — 45 cents; Princeton to LaSalle — 55 cents; Bryant’s Nursery to the battery house — 5 cents; and Barbara Schaefer’s Farm to Bureau — 5 cents. There was also local service from the north side of Princeton to Bryant’s Nursery for 5 cents.
Local service was scheduled every 20 minutes with the main service running every hour. The cars would stop for anyone standing along the line and pick them up, even if those passengers were out in the woods.
The day was June 20, 1911, and Interurban 266 was scheduled to make its 9:30 p.m. run from Princeton to Bureau. A month earlier, an Interurban had struck a horse and buggy, driven by Grover Huffaker, near Crown Street. Huffaker and his occupant, Bertha Gallagher, were uninjured, but the horse was rushed to the veterinary hospital.
About the same time, the Spring Valley City Council had “Declared War” on the Interurban company due to poor service. Their desire was to place restrictions on the line running through Spring Valley. Their request was to have flagmen at each crossing and that the train should not exceed a 10 mile an hour speed limit while within city limits.
Walter C. Beane was on his way to Geneseo on June 20, 1911, for his firm’s International Harvester of Plano. Beane was to catch the 9:30 p.m. car after missing the 8:30 p.m. service by 5 minutes. The interurban finally left the north side of town at 10 p.m. The conductor on board was George Scott with motorman Harry Brown of Peru and apprentice motorman William Zerkie of LaSalle.
Record indicate Beane was watching Scott “turning the seats,” when suddenly he heard a crunching noise and found himself falling. The lights then went out leaving the car in darkness except for a street lamp. Car 266 had just crossed the “Y” section of track at Franklin Street when it tipped over onto its side and slid about 35 feet.
Beane stated immediately after the accident, “I saw the conductor pass me going towards the rear, and I followed him. He kicked out the glass from the vestibule door and crawled through it. I followed at his heels. When we reached the rear platform, I asked the conductor how we were going to get out, but he did not respond. Instead he climbed through the side door and crawling over the end of the car, let himself down to the ground. I did likewise.”
The first thing both men noticed was that Motorman Brown was underneath the car. He was dead. Motorman William Zerkie was also found dead at the wheel of the car. The coroner’s report said they both died instantly.
A coroner’s inquest was held beginning before midnight at the American House and lasted until 4 a.m. Testimony was given by Conductor George Scott, and he testified the car was traveling at a speed of 15 miles an hour when it wrecked. The rules at the time stated that a car was restricted to a 4 mile an hour limit over a “Y” section of track. Also giving testimony was Motorman John Merkley. He was a driver for the local Interurban and had witnessed the crash from his Interurban at Clark Street. He was to reveal that after the crash, he found the switch box cover to be cracked. He opened the box and found it to be full of gravel, and when he cleaned out the rocks, the tracks switched. This switch directed the cars to the siding when closed and on through to the main line when open.
The next day Car 266 was taken to Ottawa for repairs. Damage was minimal. But the car almost toppled into Skin Creek when it swayed while being loaded. Crowds gathered to watch. Just another day in Princeton’s past.
Sources: Wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Ottawa_and Peoria Railroad; Web.me.com/willvdv/chirailfan/interik.html; Bureau County Republican from Feb. 21, 1907, Feb. 23, 1907, March 7, 1907, June 22, 1911, and June 24, 1911.
The Electric Interurban Railways’ ” the “Illini Trail,” which extended westward down the Illinois Valley north of the river from Joliet to Princeton with branches to Ladd and Streator, was one of the longest interurban lines in the state. It was built in sections by several different companies.

After the Ottawa to Ladd segment was completed in 1904, the section eastward from Ottawa to Marseilles was completed in the same year. The line then extended to both the east and west, and reached Princeton in 1907, Morris in 1909, and Joliet in 1912. Service out of Joliet was hourly with alternating trains west of Spring Valley terminating at Princeton and Ladd.

Within a few weeks after the interurban street car began its trips through Princeton, a smaller in-town street car was installed to run down the middle of Main Street between the north and south ends of town, making round trips every 20 minutes. Poles were placed along the side of Main Street to hold in place the electric power lines that powered the street cars.

Around 1910, a new brick roadway was built on Main Street, surrounding the street car rails. In time, Main Street’s brick pavement and street car rails were covered with about three inches of asphalt.

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Princeton’s Interurban wreck of 1911 – Shaw Local

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