Book Reviews
Title: None
Source: Trains Magazine
Reviewer: George Drury
Of all the cities in North America with rapid transit, Chicago has long held the prize for the most conspicuous. The nucleus of its system is a double-track elevated railroad around a downtown area five blocks by seven. That loop of track defines downtown Chicago and gives it a name: The Loop. For the most part, New York, Boston, Philadelphia have long since put rapid transit into tunnels; only Chicago has continued to put up with the noise above and the darkness at street level and the posts that make driving beneath the “L” a challenge.
And even if it's not your average diesel-powered freight-hauling railroad, it is a railroad and a fascinating one. Bruce Moffat tells the history of the several companies which built elevated into downtown Chicago from their beginning, ending his coverage in 1932, when the Chicago Rapid Transit Company entered receivership.
The “L” isn't an average railroad in the matter of construction either. If it was a relatively simple matter to erect columns and put girders across their tops--no need to blast a shelf out of the rock wall of the canyon--the politics of Chicago and the surrounding towns make railroad wars like the Santa Fe and Rio Grande's dispute over occupancy of Raton Pass and Royal Gorge seem trivial.
It seems a little silly to say the book is divided into chapters and sections, but--well it is, and liberal use of headings for the sections only clarifies a complicated history but assures the reader that he needn't digest all 302 pages in one sitting. Black-and-white photos illustrate the subject thoroughly, and eight pages of postcards and pamphlets reproduced in color are a bonus in a book about an era that predates color photography. There are plenty of maps, too. An interesting quirk of the many maps published by the transit companies is that west is at the top. Scholars will appreciate the bibliography, and everyone will appreciate the index. The book is a well-done addition to the field of traction literature.
Title: Catch this Book on the 'L'
Source: Life Times, Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Reviewer: Tom Buck Date: January 1998
This attractive oversize book will appeal to a wide reading audience with an interest in electric railways.
But it should also be of interest to many other readers, especially those who like to read about Chicago and its history.
The spread of years from 1888 to 1932 mentioned in the title starts with the company that built the first elevated rapid-transit route and extends to a financial crisis in the Depression of the 1930's, when the city's extensive rapid-transit system sank into bankruptcy.
Aside from the elevated system, the book also covers the creation of inter-urban electric lines which served the suburbs and nearby cities and which, among other benefits, transformed the farmland into outlying residential developments.
From its very beginning in 1892, the 'L' has always been a fascinating feature of Chicago. In addition to 'round-the-clock' regular passenger service, “L” trains have been used for all sorts of things: weddings, receptions, reunions, parties on New Year's Eve, and tours of the city.
In early years before the automobile had come into common use, one of the major “L” companies operated funeral trains between small funeral homes on Chicago's West Side and outlying cemeteries.
Chicago's first “L” branch was built in 1892 between Congress Street on the south edge of downtown and 39th Street by the Chicago & South Side Rapid Transit Company.
On the first day of operation, May 27, more than 2,300 guests of the company enjoyed rides on the inaugural train. The next day the company operated special service “for 500 wives, daughters and sweethearts of stockholders and friends."
However the big send off for elevated rapid transit came a year later -- on May 12, 1893 -- when an extension of the South Side “L” to Jackson Park began operating for the World's Columbian Exposition.
Elevated trains became one of the main attractions of that World's Fair, not only those from downtown, but also trains on a separate 3-mile intramural elevated system within the fairgrounds in Jackson Park.
The intramural system had electric trains powered by a third rail, but the trains on the South Side branch from downtown were pulled by steam locomotives.
Interwoven in this detailed book are the lives of many entrepreneurs.
Foremost among these were Samuel Insull, the magnate of electric and gas utilities in Chicago and the Midwest, and Charles T. Yerkes, a transit wheeler and dealer.
Mr. Insull took and active interest in electric railways in the early part of this century because he considered the creation of electric railway lines to be a good way to sell more electricity and gas.
To Mr. Insull, the benefit to the utilities he controlled was twofold. For one thing, the electric trains needed electricity from his utilities. Also, as electric railways were extended through farmland, new residential subdivisions were developed, all of which provided more customers for electricity and gas.
But the Depression brought an end to Mr. Insull's reign. The bankers who held the loans forced Mr. Insull to resign as head of the utilities, and of Chicago's elevated system.
Mr. Yerkes, the other prominent entrepreneur, stood out as the principal transit developer in Chicago in the 1890s. Unknown to the public at the time, Mr. Yerkes had come to Chicago from Philadelphia after having served a prison sentence in a stock swindle case.
He became known for bribing aldermen and other public officials in obtaining the monopolistic franchises for operating and extending the transit lines.
While he was highly successful in developing “L” lines and other operations, he gained a reputation as a scoundrel.
In an attempt to win public respect, he provided the funds for creating the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay in southern Wisconsin.
In 1901, Mr. Yerkes sold his Chicago transit properties for $5 million and accepted an invitation from the city of London to help plan extensions of the subway system of the English capital.
This year, Chicago is celebrating one of Mr. Yerkes' most significant achievements -- the 100th anniversary of the creation of the elevated loop, which gave the downtown area its name, “The Loop."
In his book, Mr. Moffat credits Mr. Yerkes, who controlled a major elevated-train company, with having brought rival transit companies together in 1897 to create the four-sided Loop elevated structure.
Under the heading, “The Union Loop,” Mr. Moffat writes:
"If a downtown loop were to be constructed at all, it would require the kind of financial and political resources that only one man in Chicago could command. That man was Charles Tyson Yerkes. Mr. Yerkes' keen political intellect and deftness at navigating projects through the shark-infested waters of Chicago politics had made him one of the city's most wealthy and powerful citizens."
Scoundrel or not, Mr. Yerkes provided Chicago with an important everlasting asset.
Title: Building of Chicago's 'L' is story of scoundrels, bribery, deception
Source: Chicago Tribune
Reviewer: David Young Date: September 18, 1995
This decade happens to be the 100th anniversary of Chicago's unique elevated railway system, or “L” as it is commonly called. It opened in stages between 1892 and 1900.
Transit historian Bruce G. Moffat has taken that centennial opportunity to produce what is the most complete history written of the early years of the system.
With all the talk these days about privatizing portions of the Chicago Transit Authority, which now runs the “L” lines, Moffat's look backward should provide some interesting instruction in the pitfalls of privately operated mass transit.
Chicago's elevated was built and operated by private enterprise for the first 59 years of its existence. The CTA didn't take over until 1947 when the “L” was hopelessly mired in bankruptcy.
In fact, much of the elevated system was in in bankruptcy reorganization within a few years of its construction. It was in such poor financial shape after 1911 that utilities mogul Samuel Insull, of Commonwealth Edison Co., was forced to take it over to protect his largest power customer. Then, in 1932, it collapsed into bankruptcy again when Insull's utilities empire fell apart.
By then, it should have been obvious to almost everyone that elevated railways were beyond the capacity of private enterprise to finance. The recent financial troubles of CTA, if anything, raise the question as to whether public agencies are up to the task, at least without huge tax subsidies.
Moffat's “The L” contains many pictures of events and things long forgotten, such as the seminal electric railway at the Columbian Exposition in 1893 (elevated trains until that time were pulled by small steam locomotives. It is not, however, strictly a coffee-table book. It has considerable and well-researched text.
The Central Electric Railfans's Association is a non-profit technical and educational society founded in the 1930's that over the years has published a series of books that it calls “bulletins” about the electric railways that once and still exist primarily in the form of big city transit systems. Most of those works, while excellent sources for historians, are relatively arcane recitations of the technical sides of traction, as electric railways are generically known. Moffat's “L” is an unusual deviation from usual CERA practice in that he at least dabbles in some of the colorful political and economic history of the system that is usually ignored by traction buffs.
Some of the most colorful scoundrels in Chicago history were involved in building and running the “L” system at the end of the era of the robber barons. They included the likes of Mike McDonald, the hustler who controlled much of the city's gambling and vice, and Charles T. Yerkes, the ex-con and traction mogul from Philadelphia. McDonald started to build the Lake Street elevated before selling out, and Yerkes came to control much of the city's streetcar lines and several of its elevated systems before being driven out of town by reformers like Mayor Carter Harrison Jr.
It was an era when the traction promoters had to bribe everyone in sight, not just the City Council dominated by a faction known as the Gray Wolves but property owners as well. If Moffat's book has a shortcoming, it is that he tiptoes too gently on the high road and fails to give adequate recognition to the corrupt shenanigans of the likes of Alderman Hinkey Dink Kenna and Bathhouse John Coughlin that were so influential on where, when, and how the “L” lines were built.
Chicago's original “L” routes wander around the landscape instead of proceeding in straight lines because their developers were shopping for the cheapest routes. State and city law required the “L” lines for the most part to be built on private rights of way, and the traction developers had to bribe property owners to let them pass.
The whole wild and wooley era culminated in 1897 when Yerkes built the Loop elevated, which to this day gives downtown Chicago its name. He raised by one account $10 million to build a system that cost an estimated $600,000, and engaged in all sorts of subterfuge, not to mention bribery, to get downtown property owners to consent to a steel railway being built above the streets in front of their buildings.
A word of caution: The book may not be available from discount book outlets but can be ordered from CERA at the above address.
Title: The “L"
Source: First & Fastest Magazine
Reviewer: Joseph M. Canfield Date: Spring 1996
It might be easy to run out of superlatives in reviewing The “L." Timely since it appears during the decade of the 100th anniversary of the 'L,' it is a superb work. A beautiful example of book production, its composition is excellent. The layout and picture selection are first-rate. As a history it is excellent and accurate.
The story, carefully researched, makes it clear that rapid transit in Chicago was never financially successfully even though socially necessary. The companies had to deal with corrupt politicians and were themselves often headed by greedy and corrupt capitalists. Greedy land owners took their toll, hampering development. Worse, it would appear that the builders started out with either very optimistic or unrealistic ideas of the great amounts of capital needed for the construction they planned.
All financial failures, they were eventually consolidated to avoid total failure. The 'L' played a major role in the expansion of city development despite the dreary financial results. The ubiquitous automobile caught the vulnerable 'L' and started a decline which led to public ownership and today makes its raison d'etre questionable.
As an inclusive study, the book notes predecessor transport concepts, including the Columbian Intramural Railway serving the 1893 exposition. The Intramural experience was used by the 'L' builders as they developed their lines.
The four companies which built the 'L' lines each had a distinct history with financial difficulties the only common experience. Moffat covers each in turn and does it well. The “fan” concept did not exist in those days, but imagine a young enthusiast observing and riding those early trains!
The Chicago & South Side, “the Alley 'L,'” was opened in time to handle crowds to the 1893 Columbian Exposition, though this was done by diminutive steam locomotives. The line was soon electrified. Frank Sprague used the South Side line to demonstrate and put into service his multiple unit concept, without which rapid transit anywhere would have been impossible.
The Lake Street line (original corporation: Chicago & Oak Park) was an early “playground” for Charles T. Yerkes. It started with steam power and endured the problems of adapting a then-new technology--electrification. Its surface operations, almost streetcar lines, in Oak Park and Cicero Township are almost a story in themselves. The people who used the short-lived race track trains to Harlem Race Track served a clientele quite different from Oak Park commuters (the track never again during its life was accessible by rapid transit.) After the street operations ended, the Lake Street line provided a main link between Oak Park and the Loop.
The Metropolitan line serving the West Side entered downtown by crossing the Chicago River on the unique Scherzer double drawbridge. Its huge Loomis Street power station loomed over the West Side, generating power for Met trains. The line fanned out to several areas west and even went into suburbs. It provided entrance for an interurban (the CA&E as we knew it later). Its funeral car provided a final service.
The Loop elevated, an idea from the mind of Charles T. Yerkes, tied the various lines together and provided a unique city delivery. And “Loop” is a distinctive Chicago “trademark."
The last component of the 'L' was the Northwestern Elevated (no connection with a steam road of a similar name). It had a number of false starts before its left-hand-running trains began to carry passengers to the Loop from the North Side. The left-hand running had to be changed to right-hand in due time.
The financial disaster that was the Chicago 'Ls” forced Samuel Insull to take them over in 1911, ostensibly to collect his power bills. Insull turned his engineers loose on the system. But bad economics and uncooperative politicians limited what they could do to improve the system. One positive result--the North-South runings in 1913.
The illustrations in the book are varied and of remarkably good quality. They give a comprehensive view of the lines and times. The chapter on “The 'L' and Art” provides a colorful touch. It shows that the system was promotion-minded even in the face of its difficulties.
Copyright 1996 Shore Line Interurban Historical Society. Book review from First & Fastest magazine+ reproduced on this site by permission of Shore Line
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