McLean County, Illinois - Chapter 16: Public Utilities, 1924

DEVELOPMENT CO-EXTENSIVE WITH CITY AND COUNTY - CRUDE METHODS AT FIRST - ILLINOIS POWER AND LIGHT CORPORATION - DEVELOPMENT OF STREET RAILWAY SYSTEM - FORMER OPERATING COMPANIES - FIRST ELECTRIC LIGHTS - DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRY - GAS COMPANIES - TELEPHONE SYSTEMS.

Nothing tells the story of the growth and development of McLean County, particularly the city of Bloomington, the county seat, like the history of its public utilities. In fact the economic and industrial part of the county's history would not be complete without recording the early struggles and vicissitudes of the sturdy and far-sighted pioneers of the utilities, who not only had civic pride and faith in their community, but the temerity to launch projects considered at the time extremely precarious financial ventures because of the scarcity of money and the crude tools and equipment they had to furnish service with.

The history of the utility properties in the county, furnishing power and light, the heating service, street railway lines, and the Illinois Traction System, now controlled by the Illinois Power and Light Corporation, is an interesting one.

Figures on the company's books, particularly those from 1912 to 1924, give a splendid idea of how the growth of the population, the increasing of homes and enlargement of industries in McLean County have made demands and are still making them upon the properties of the public utilities.

In 1912, or about the time of the installation of the modern electric meter to measure service for customers, the power company now operated by the Illinois Power and Light Corporation, had 2,138 meters in service. A survey at the beginning of the year 1924 showed there were 12,326 meters in service.

And, from a few thousand persons carried annually on the early horsecar line of the pioneer days of the community, the 'company's modern and up-to-date electric power lines now carry millions of people annually, for in 1923, 4,655,974 passengers were carried on the city railway lines of Bloomington and Normal. The heating service, too, furnished by the exhaust steam at the electric power plant of the company, inaugurated in 1900, shows the growth of Bloomington. At the opening of the year 1924 the company was serving 291 customers with heat.

The figures at the beginning of 1924 also showed the city railway lines had 18.2 miles of track; 28V2 miles of Illinois Traction System roadway in McLean County, and 10,061 feet of steam heating mains.

And at the time this was written it required the services of 200 employes, headed by D. W. Snyder, Jr., general manager, to operate the properties of the Illinois Power and Light Corporation in McLean County, with an annual payroll of $300,000.

Twenty-two towns and villages in the county receive their electric light and power generated at the Bloomington power plant of the corporation.

One electric transmission line, 50 miles in length, is in service out from Bloomington, and supplies power to Chenoa, El Paso, Enright, Gridley, Hudson, Kappa, Kerrick, Meadows and Lexington. The line was built in 1912 and carries 33,000 volts. Another line, 11 miles long, carrying 6,600 volts, extends from Gridley to Flanagan. The company sells current to the LeRoy Electric Company, which has a line 23 miles in length, 13,200 volts, from Bloomington to LeRoy, running through and furnishing light and power to the villages of Cooksville, Colfax, Downs, Ellsworth and Gillum. The company also sells current to the Shirley Electric Company, the Secor Electric Company and the Carlock Electric Company. The Shirley Electric Company has a line 12 miles long, carrying 6,600 volts, from Bloomington to Shirley and Funk's Grove. The line of the

Secor Electric Company is 10 miles in length, carries 6,600 volts, and operates from El Paso to Secor. The line of the Carlock Electric Company is 12 miles long, carries 6,600 volts, and serves the towns of Carlock and Congerville. The Illinois Power and Light Corporation also has one and one-half mile of line from Bloomington to the car shops of the Chicago & Alton Railway. This line carries 33,000 volts and supplies the shops with power. The company has a fine electric substation at Morton, with 6,600 volt transmission line to Tremont and Groveland.

It is in the story of the street railway system, the second public utility promoted in the county, built from Bloomington to Normal, that the halo of historical romance is around. A company of public-spirited men of the time, composed of the late Henry C. Fell, Norval Dixon, Lyman Ferre, William C. Hendryx and William A. Pennel, was formed in 1867 and started to build a car line from Bloomington to Normal. Little money was expected to be made from the enterprise, the improvement being built largely as a matter of civic development.

Work was begun on the line which extended from Grove street in Bloomington to Normal, stopping at the Illinois Central and Chicago & Alton Railway depots. The cost of the construction was $60,000. Before any cars were operated, the late Asa H. Moore, then superintendent of the Chicago & Alton Railway, purchased the property from the original builders in 1868. The service, 30 minutes between the two towns, was started The cars were hauled by two steam dummy engines. The panting, puffing dummy engines with their scarfs of black smoke trailing behind in the city streets and the noise of their shrill little whistles, became very annoying to the populace and pressure began to be exerted on the city fathers to abate the nuisance.

As a result of the objections the company was compelled to take off the dummy engine from its cars entering Bloomington at the car barn, at Park street and University avenue. Mules were hitched on and the little courtesying, bobbing cars, carrying their 10 or a dozen passengers, were hauled by the animals the remainder of the trip to the downtown district of Bloomington. After one year of operation in this manner the engines were discarded entirely and mules substituted over the whole line.

In addition to the passenger service the road did an extensive freight business, hauling cars of wheat direct from the tracks of the Chicago & Alton Railway at Normal to the Novelty Mills, then located where the

Illini Theater now stands - Market and East streets. To reach the mills a spur was built from the main line on Main street. The freight business of the line lasted until 1873. When the Bloomington and Normal railwaywas built the track was constructed of 25-pound rails, costing $30 per ton. The weight of the rail in the system was gradually increased from time to time until today the greater part of Bloomington street railway system is equipped with 90 and 100-pound rails, costing $60 a ton. The entire section of the Bloomington system in the downtown district was rebuilt in 1922 and 1923. Heavy rails, solid manganese switches, frogs and curves and Dayton resilient steel ties were used in the new work.

During the regime of Asa Moore in the operation of the Bloomington & Normal Railway demands for expansion began to be felt within a few years after the first rails were laid.

In 1881 a line on Chestnut street in Bloomington was constructed from the main line to the Chicago & Alton Railway tracks. In 1883 the Front street line was built from Main street over Front street to Robinson street, south on Robinson street to Grove street, then east to its terminus at the Illinois Central Railway tracks.

That section of the system known as the "Union Depot Line" was constructed in 1884 from Main street to the Chicago & Alton Railway Company's tracks. Mr. Moore experienced some opposition in the building of this section of the system because of a franchise held by Messrs. McBeam and Foster, two highly influential men of the time operating a bus line over the street. Mr. Moore, however, acquired their rights and built the car line and the bus service passed into history.

Mr. Patterson made his residence in Bloomington and was general manager of the railway. During his regime numerous extensions were made. The Miller Park line on Allin street was built from Washington street to Wood street ; the line on Main street was extended from the Big Four Railway tracks to Lincoln street; the Center street line was constructed to Seminary avenue and Mason street ; the Clinton Belt Line was built and the track extending south on Robinson street was taken up and laid north on Robinson street to Washington street and extended east on Washington street to Towanda avenue.

hitched from the cars and disappeared forever. With so much development of the system that had gone on, the company's property became mortgaged to the extent of $200,000. Unable to lift the mortgage the company faced serious financial difficulties. A local syndicate composed of A. E. DeMange, John Eddy, George Mcintosh and Montgomery Evansj organized a new company, lifted the mortgage and took over the operation of the system. The new company began further extensions and improvements at once.

Immediately upon acquiring the property a passing track was constructed on Main street, extending from Front street to Jefferson street. In 1899, the Front street line, only running as far east on Washington street to Towanda avenue, was extended east to Vale street and south on Vale street to Grove street.

In 1900 the line on South Main street was extended from Lincoln street to Houghton's Lake. Considerable opposition was encountered in extending the line south beyond the city limits at LaFayette street, from the board of county supervisors, but the track was finally laid and service installed.

In 1902 a franchise was secured from the town of Normal for the building of the Normal loop and Fell avenue lines, and both were built. During this same year the Chicago & Alton Railway subway was constructed, doing away with a dangerous grade crossing at the intersection of Franklin avenue and Beaufort street. During the year a line was built on Gridley street from Front street to Oakland avenue and then on east to the Illinois Central Railway tracks. This was known as the Oakland avenue line.

The following year the Chestnut street and Center street lines were looped together by extending the track down Mason street from Seminary avenue to Walnut street and west on Walnut street to the right of way of the Chicago & Alton Railway Company, crossing a corner of the steam road's track and joining the Chestnut street line at its terminus.

The same year, 1903, the Front street line was looped with the Oakland avenue line, the Oakland avenue line being run east on Oakland avenue to Vale street and thence north to the terminus of the Front street line at Grove street. A passing track, four blocks in length, was installed on Vale street to facilitate service.

The next change in the destinies of the Bloomington & Normal Railway, which had begun in 1867 as the Bloomington Horse Railway, came on Jan. 6, 1906, when Mr. DeMange and his associates sold the system to Hodenpyl, Walbridge & Company for a price stated to be about $1,000,000, who later conveyed the properties to William B. McKinley, at that time, and has since been, very active in building up public utilities in Illinois and the Central States.

Mr. McKinley having previously acquired control of the Consumers Light & Heat Company, of which a word will be said later, the street railway company and the light company were merged into one company, becoming the Bloomington and Normal Railway & Light Company. Many changes were made in the properties after the merger, particularly in improving the character of the construction and equipment.

The Oakland avenue-Front street loop was abandoned, the Front street line terminating at Vale and Taylor streets. The track on Vale street from Taylor street to Oakland avenue was torn out and the line extended east on Oakland avenue to Mercer avenue.

Since Mr. McKinley purchased the property over $675,000 has been expended on the street railway portion of the property. The first two double-truck electric street cars to operate in Illinois were operated on the Bloomington system and later the interurban railway. The latest improvement to date is the Birney street car or "one man" car, which is rapidly being adopted in leading cities of the country because of its safety features. A big percentage of street railway accidents is cut down where Birney cars are in operation. The car is operated by one man, who acts as both motorman and conductor. The car cannot be started with the door open. This style of car has reduced accidents to almost nothing.

All of the public utility services in McLean County at the present writing, with the exception of gas and water, are furnished by the Illinois Power and Light Corporation which acquired the properties in July, 1923.

William B. McKinley is chairman of the board of this company; Clement Studebaker, Jr., president; William A. Baehr, vice president and general manager ; H. E. Chubbuck, vice-president ; H. L. Hanley, vice-president and general attorney; Scott Brown, vice-president and secretary; George M. Mattis, vice president and treasurer; and P. C. Dings, chairman of the finance committee.

The first electric lights that the residents of Bloomington saw were four that flickered and sputtered high in the sky, suspended from the courthouse dome one night in the year 1880.

The lights were placed on the courthouse for demonstration purposes by the Leo Daft Electrical Company, who had built a small plant near the street railway car barns, University avenue and McLean street. The company had ambitions to use the power for commercial lighting purposes. It was the belief of the electrical men at that period that a wide area of city could be lighted by suspending the lights high in the air. In some cities they placed them on tall steel towers.

About the time the Leo Daft company started, other electrical men, backed by capitalists, were turning their eyes toward Bloomington as a field for activity. A plant, later known as the Jenny plant, was built on the present site of the power house of the Illinois Power and Light Corporation on Roosevelt street. It was begun in 1880 and finished in 1882. Then some capitalists came in from Ft. Wayne, Ind., and built what was known as the Ft. Wayne plant.

A company known as the Union Gas & Electric Company, also began developing gas and electric service, paying more attention to gas than electricity. It is still in existence, furnishing Bloomington with gas. In 1890 the city railway was electrified, the power furnished by the Leo Daft Company.

Then the historical fire swept Bloomington in 1900 and soon after there was a movement to organize a new power and light company. The result was that the Consumers Power & Light Company came into existence. A new plant was erected and finished one year after the fire. Besides furnishing power and light, the company announced it would furnish heat as well.

The new company was formed by a coterie of Bloomington business men. Among them were Wolf Gresheim, Robert Johnson, W. S. Harwood, George S. Hanna, Albert Wochner, C. W. Robinson, C. M. Harlan, George Mcintosh.

Mr. DeMange, then at the head of the Bloomington Electric Company, and others acquired the power plant and properties of the Bloomington and Normal Railway.

Both the Consumers Power & Light Company and the city railway were operated separately until William B. McKinley purchased, in 1906, first the Consumers Power & Light Company, then the Bloomington & Normal Railway Company, and merged the two under the control of what was then known as the McKinley system, operating many public utility properties in Central Illinois.

When the Illinois Power & Light Corporation was formed in 1923, merging the McKinley and Studebaker interests of Illinois into one vast company, the Bloomington properties came in under the control of the new concern and is now operating them.

Bloomington is so situated on the lines of the Illinois Traction System that excellent interurban service is afforded with connections to Peoria, Springfield, Decatur and St. Louis.

The first interurban car in service for Bloomington was the one run over the new McKinley line from Bloomington to Decatur on June 30, 1906. The line to Peoria was opened on June 6, 1907.

Gas Companies. - The first public utility in the county was gas service furnished by the Bloomington Gas Light & Coke Company at Bloomington, which began operating a plant in 1857 and furnished street lighting service from the Illinois Central railway tracks to the Chicago & Alton railway depot. The plant was located at Market and Oak Streets. It was abandoned in 1867 and a new one built by General A. Gridley.

The Union Gas & Electric Company of Bloomington as it exists today is the outgrowth of several previous attempts to construct and operate successful gas plants in the city. The first of these was the Bloomington Gas Light & Coke Company, established in 1857, and owned mostly by Franklin Price through an incorporated company. The plant was at the northwest corner of Oak and Market Streets. After the property had passed into the hands of General Gridley, he constructed new works just west of the Alton railroad tracks and north of Washington Street. The gas company furnished the illumination for the streets of the city for several years prior to the introduction of electric street lighting. Bloomington was one of the first cities in the state to light its streets with gas. In 1882 a new gas company was given a franchise to use the streets of the city, and it tore up many of the streets for the purpose of laying its pipes. It was thought that competing companies would result in lower rates to consumers. But after the new company had done much work, a consolidation was effected and the gas business was again in the hands of a single company.

In the year 1901, the gas company decided to branch out into Normal, and secured a franchise from the town council to lay mains and otherwise use the streets and alleys for service. The franchise was secured in the name of James A. Wilcox, Duncan M. Funk, John T. Lillard, J. 0. Willson and Willard A. Parritt, who were the officers of the company in those days. The service was gradually installed and now covers Normal almost as thoroughly as it does Bloomington. Many miles of mains were laid in Normal.

In the year 1908 a New York syndicate acquired the franchises and capital stock of all the gas interests of Bloomington, taking over both the Bloomington Gaslight and Coke Company and the Citizens' Gaslight & Heating Company. This new concern at once began a new policy of modernizing and bettering the equipment and! consequently the service. This policy has been steadily pursued to the present time.

J. A. Perkins was for several years the local manager under the ownership of the New York capitalists. He was succeeded by Ray Stretch, who remained in charge a few years. About three years ago Roy E. Chew became the local manager and is now in charge. Under his supervision the local property has been still further improved, until it is now one of the best of its size in the United States. A survey taken last year of the condition of gas properties in Illinois, one hundred in number, placed the Bloomington plant as second in point of modern equipment and efficient service.

The total valuation of the physical properties of the Union Gas & Electric Company is now about $1,600,000. There are 86 miles of gas mains in Bloomington and Normal, and 8,350 meters are in place, or one to about every four persons in the two cities. The company employs 75 people on an average, and at certain seasons when outdoor work is in

This company produces annually 250,000,000 cubic feet of gas for illumination, heating and the many other uses to which the substance is now put. The company pays taxes of $20,000 yearly.

One of the most interesting features of this public utility is its policy of customer ownership. Several years ago it started out on this welldefined plan of interesting its patrons and other citizens in owning stock in the company. Up to date, there are about 400 people in the two cities who own stock of greater or lesser sums. These include nearly every employe of the company. The total investments represented by these resident stockholders is upward of $224,000. Thus while the nominal headquarters are in a distant city, the capital which controls its management is largely in the hands of the very people who use its product. The local directors and officers now include: C. F. J. Agle, vice-president; Lee Rust, director; Dan Fitzgerrell, director; William Beasley, assistant secretary and treasurer; R. E. Chew, director and general manager.

Telephone Systems. - The Central Union, or otherwise known as the Bell Telephone System, was the pioneer commercial line in this county, although attempts to build telephones had previously been made, but they proved little more than toys so far as utility is concerned. Fred Beckman, still in the business after 44 years, came to Bloomington in 1880 from St. Louis, where he had just learned the rudiments of the then rather crude business, as a lineman. Mr. Beckman helped to construct the first system of Bell telephones here for the few years following 1880. When the business expanded and grew to large proportions, Mr. Beckman was made superintendent of the local plant, a position which he retained until its consolidation with the Kinloch system in 1920. He is still in charge of the long distance business of the Bell company in Bloomington and Mc- Lean County.

The Bell Telephone Company owned the only telephone system in Bloomington until about 1895, when James B. Taylor and H. S. Bower organized an independent company called "Home Telephone Company" with a limited number of telephones.

the system and owned it until about 1902, when A. B. Cotton and Hart F Farwell purchased the system. Mr. Farwell soon after sold his interest to Mr. Cotton. A. B. Cotton, about 1905, sold the Home Telephone Company plant or system, to a group of people who are still the principal owners, and who then formed a new corporation, the present Kinloch- Bloomington Telephone Company. From 1905 to date the list of subscribers has grown from 1,200 to 10,000.

About 1912 the McLean County Telephone Company which had been conducting an independent toll business, sold its toll lines to Kinloch- Bloomington Telephone Company.

In January, 1922, the Bell Telephone Company sold their local plant to Kinloch-Bloomington Telephone Company, the Bell Company retaining its toll lines and long distance traffic. All Bell, also all independent toll lines throughout the country, are connected with the Kinloch-Bloomington exchange.

John T. Lillard has been president of the Kinloch-Bloomington Telephone Co. since its organization; Hart F. Farwell has been vice-president and general manager during all said time. The rates charged by the Bloomington telephone company are the lowest rates charged by any similar plant in the State of Illinois, and perhaps as low as any similar plant in the United States.

In 1902 when Home Telephone Company was acquired by Mr. Farwell and Mr. Cotton it occupied the second floor in the building at 216 West Jefferson Street; the office of the company was about that time moved to the north end of the Evans Building, fronting on Main Street, just north of the Corn Belt Bank Building.

In 1920 the telephone company purchased the three-story and basement building 513-515 North Main Street, together with the lot 517 next north of same; a total frontage of 72 feet and depth of 100 feet. The entire building, 513-515, was rebuilt for the uses of the company, new switchboards and new apparatus were placed in the building and underground conduits and cables were constructed to and in the newly acquired property.

In January, 1922, the exchange and all equipment was moved from the Evans Building where it had been located for 15 years, to the Lillard Building. The company now has 9,500 subscribers in Bloomington and Normal, or about one to three people. This is an unusually high percent- age of service. Connected with the Bloomington exchange are about 9,000 instruments operating through the many exchanges located in different towns of the county. The company employs 110 people in all capacities from operators at the exchange to linemen and other workers on the outside.

Thomas C. Ainsworth has been superintendent of the Kinloch plant here for about twelve years. He is known as one of the best telephone men in the country.