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But the fact that it had suburban service from a major city via an interurban means that, at least during the era when the trains ran, it functioned as a streetcar suburb. Obviously it wasn't successful in that endeavor--perhaps Louisville just wasn't attractive enough to Denver investors.
But there still ain't such a thing as a "bus suburb," which is what got us talking about Louisville in the first place.
Just because it had a train running through it to a large city doesn't mean it was a train-oriented suburb. To use an example local to me, most sizeable towns 50-100 miles from NYC had a train running to NYC (and probably for Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and others). But the doesn't mean those towns were suburbs nor was the primary usage of the train commuting.
I'm sure some people in the towns did use the train for commuting (and I think it would be unlikely that no one in Louisville used the interurban for commuting to Denver) but it probably wasn't common. The towns were mostly rural centers or independent towns, and the train was used for traveling to the big city for mostly non-commute reasons.
Not just any train--an electric interurban train. Some interurbans carried freight but most were primarily for passengers--especially one like this that paralleled a steam railroad and ran with such high frequency. I'd be surprised if the DI carried much freight aside from small parcels or a combine carrying LCL or milk runs. Interurbans weren't strictly for commuting to work either: they were used for access to other urban amenities that were out of reach to a country dweller, like department stores, moving pictures, or those streetcar-company-owned amusement parks. And that's what suburban living was supposed to be about: access to urban amenities while living in the country.
Just because it had a train running through it to a large city doesn't mean it was a train-oriented suburb. To use an example local to me, most sizeable towns 50-100 miles from NYC had a train running to NYC (and probably for Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and others). But the doesn't mean those towns were suburbs nor was the primary usage of the train commuting.
I'm sure some people in the towns did use the train for commuting (and I think it would be unlikely that no one in Louisville used the interurban for commuting to Denver) but it probably wasn't common. The towns were mostly rural centers or independent towns, and the train was used for traveling to the big city for mostly non-commute reasons.
Good post. Re: Louisville-When the interurban was running, Denver was still a "cowtown" with a population of 250,000 people. (It has 600,000 today.) Louisville was (still is) 25 miles away from the city limits and about 30 miles away from downtown. People did not commute like that in the 20s. People in Louisville mined coal, or provided goods and services to people who mined coal. It was considered a coal mining "camp", with a population of 1800 people. We need to forget the idea of an executive getting off the train in Louisville from a hard day trading stocks in Denver.
Cities a lot smaller than 250,000 had their own suburbs, and interurban networks could spread growth easily farther than 25-30 miles. Nor were only executives commuters. The presence of an interurban made living in a place like Louisville (not necessarily Louisville, but places like it) more attractive--even a Louisville coal miner could hop on the interurban to shop in downtown Denver! Nor were suburbs by the early 1900s strictly for the wealthy (the earlier "picturesque" suburbs were more economically exclusive.) A bank clerk or store supervisor could afford a picturesque country house, even if their salary wouldn't rate much more than a decent apartment in downtown Denver.
If the interurban was used mostly for tourist type purposes (visiting family, shopping, etc), I would not consider Louisville a suburb. It does seem surprising that they would have 16 trips per day from a town of 1800 just so that people could visit (and not work in) the big city, but maybe that's why they went bankrupt.
memph: It isn't a one-or-the-other thing. People could use an interurban for commuting, or shopping, or recreational visiting, or as school trains, or all of the above, and generally they depended on providing a multitude of uses. Interurban/suburban boosters wanted people to take multiple trips, and planned their routes to stop at resorts, sports stadiums, beaches, lakes, even cemeteries, in order to drive traffic. Obviously, 16 trips from a town of 1800 is too much (although Louisville was a stop on the route between two other cities, not a terminus)--they were clearly hoping for a building boom after the interurban arrived, as was mentioned above, and I'd wager there were some efforts at promotion and boosterism to that end, if not in Louisville then somewhere along the DI's right-of-way. The idea was that these little communities wouldn't stay little for long: the cheap farm lots would sprout new neighborhoods, the middle class (or perhaps even the wealthy) would be eager to buy suburban lots, and their presence would attract business to the most expensive lots near the train station where commuters and visitors would walk past every time they took the interurban to town. In some cities, this is what happened: the Pacific Electric's suburban communities ran all the way out to the Inland Empire in San Bernardino County, well over 50 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Some of them flourished, some did not--and others kind of got frozen in size when PE stopped carrying passengers, at least until prices in Los Angeles got high enough to drive their auto suburbs all the way out to Bakersfield!
But, because these were free-market suburbs, and part of participating in the "free market" means the risk of failure, not every plan for suburban growth came to fruition. But it wasn't really all that necessary for grand changes to occur in a small town for it to become a suburb: the development pattern of a walkable small community like Louisville, where people walked to work in the mines, is very similar to the kind of walkable small communities that streetcar suburbs created. Small towns had the advantage of already having some buildings and stores in existence--visitors didn't have to imagine a neighborhood on unimproved lots.
If the interurban was used mostly for tourist type purposes (visiting family, shopping, etc), I would not consider Louisville a suburb. It does seem surprising that they would have 16 trips per day from a town of 1800 just so that people could visit (and not work in) the big city, but maybe that's why they went bankrupt.
It went to other places as well. However, it was not run on good economic principles, obviously.
In addition to encouraging sprawl via the provision of ‘free roads’ and subsidised public transit, government land use regulation often further intensifies the problem. In the US, large-lot zoning ordinances and prescriptive requirements for set-backs, road-widths and mandatory car parking all conspire to produce a low density and fragmented pattern of urban development.
In addition to encouraging sprawl via the provision of ‘free roads’ and subsidised public transit, government land use regulation often further intensifies the problem. In the US, large-lot zoning ordinances and prescriptive requirements for set-backs, road-widths and mandatory car parking all conspire to produce a low density and fragmented pattern of urban development.
Very nice link. Not to take people off-track, but if you get a chance, read the comments. The commenter Jardinero1 does a very nice job discussing road wear and tear between cars and trucks. Very interesting!
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