The first interurban car on the Toledo & Indiana Railway arrived in Bryan. The Toledo and Indiana Railway was an electric interurban (trolley) line designed to connect Toledo with Indianapolis and Chicago, but its tracks never extended further than West High Street in Bryan.
When the first T. & I. interurban car arrived in Bryan on June 1, 1905, it was greeted by several hundred enthusiastic citizens, who followed the car down High Street to the T. & I. depot on the southwest corner of High and Walnut Streets.
The railway provided the latest accommodations for travelers, and its coaches were equipped with electric motors that allowed them to travel at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour. The T & I schedule was more convenient than the Lake Shore Railroad, and it soon became a very popular means of transportation.
As years went by, improved roads and vehicles decreased passenger and freight business until the interurban railroad was no longer able to compete. Only one Ohio electric railway outlasted the Toledo & Indiana, which sent its last passenger car to Bryan on October 15, 1939.
This colorized vintage postcard from the Kevin Maynard collection, postmarked in 1908, shows a T. & I. interurban car at the first Bryan depot.
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