RFRIC – The Iowa City Electric Railway.

When Iowa joined the Union in 1846, transportation in and around the Hawkeye State was very limited. Riverboats, of course, worked well in connecting the larger communities located on the Mississippi River, but for the good people of Iowa City, traveling outside of the capital city was limited to horseback, horse-drawn carriage, and stagecoach. Back east, the railroads were becoming quite abundant (see map below), but the closest train station to Iowa City was in Chicago.

Over a period of 120 years of Iowa City history (1850-1970) there have been five railway systems (see map below) that have attempted to bring passenger rail service into our community. One of those railroads was very short-lived, while others were here nearly that entire time.

This map – courtesy of historian Tom Schulien – shows the five passenger railway systems of Iowa City. **Brown** **– Lyons-Iowa Central RR – The Calico** (1850-1854) **Green** **– M&M / Rock Island RR** (1853-1974) **Blue – Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern RR – The Plug** (1873-1924), **Black** – **CRANDIC Interurban Railway** (1904-1953) and **Red** – **Iowa City Electric Railway** (1910-1930).

On this page, let’s take a deeper dive into the fifth and final railway system of Iowa City…

The final Iowa City rail passenger service we want to share with you here is the Iowa City Electric Railway and its traditional street car or trolley. Like the CRANDIC Interurban, the street cars of Iowa City were powered by overhead electricity, but traveled throughout our fair city for only a short period of 20 years (1910-1930) before being replaced by motorized buses.

The vision for the street car began with James H. Maggard (1854-1924) – a successful businessman in Iowa City who, at the turn of the 20th century, managed O.S. Kelly Works – a farming implement manufacturing company just outside the city limits of Iowa City (see red box in map above). Maggard has been called “the Mark Twain of writers on engineering” and is remembered for his innovative farming inventions. In 1908, Maggard proposed a new city addition called Rundell (black box in map) – located between, what was then, Iowa City and East Iowa City. Here, Maggard and his investors sold 274 lots to new home owners, with the promise that the city would help him develop a street car franchise that would service the new neighborhood. Read more here.

Intense hand labor is applied to install streetcar tracks in North Dubuque Street
between Fairchild Street (foreground) and Church Street (on horizon). Circa 1912.

**November 17, 1910.** *The offices for the **Iowa City Electric Railway Company** were in the **Coldren Opera House**, which is the large building behind the crowd* *on College Street.*

Two years later, Maggard’s dream became a reality, and on November 17, 1910, the first Iowa City street car was rolling from the Rundell neighborhood into downtown Iowa City (see map above).

It was during Mayor Ralph Otto‘s time in office when the Iowa City Electric Railway began operations with streetcar service. The November 17, 1910 edition of The Iowa City Citizen announces the good news to Iowa Citians…

Over the next five years, street car routes increased dramatically (see map above) in order to better serve a larger segment of the Iowa City population.

*(P-0038)* This 1910 view of downtown Iowa City – looking east on Washington Street (toward City Hall) – shows the many electric lines string above city streets – needed for both the CRANDIC Interurban line and the Iowa City Street Car system.

In 1909, one year before the street cars of Iowa City began running, the Park Road Bridge was built, linking the city on the eastern side of the Iowa River to City Park on the west. This new bridge provided easy access to the newly-opened Manville Heights area, and soon, street cars were running Iowa City park-goers to the west side of the river.

In 1914, the Iowa City Electric Company was bought out by the newly-formed Mississippi Valley Electric Company, and under that ownership, the street car system provided Iowa City with reliable service until around 1930 – when the Iowa City Coach Company replaced all street cars with motorized buses.

So, there you have it, the fifth and final railway of Iowa City. Though only running through Iowa City for twenty short years (1910-1930), the electrified trolley of Iowa City provided a huge service to the city!

Riding The Five Rails Of Iowa City – An Introduction
The Lyons-Iowa Central RR – The Calico (1850-1854)
The Mississippi & Missouri (M&M) / Rock Island (CRI&P) RR (1853-1974)
The Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern (BCR&N) RR – The Plug (1873-1924)
The Cedar Rapids & Iowa City (CRANDIC) Interurban Railway (1904-1953).
The CRANDIC Interurban Railway Trolley Picture Page
The Iowa City Electric Railway (1910-1930)

Gone – but never forgotten!

Click here to return to the Riding The Five Rails Of Iowa City home page…