The Toledo and Indiana Railway, Inc., was a combined electric

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

railroad and electric company that operated between Toledo, Ohio, and Bryan, Ohio, via

Stryker The Stryker is a family of eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles derived from the Canadian LAV III. Stryker vehicles are produced by General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada (GDLS-C) for the United States Army in a plant in London, Ontario. It ...

, Ohio, from 1901 to 1939.

History

The Toledo & Indiana Railway, Inc., was incorporated in 1901 to construct an electric interurban line west from Toledo to Stryker, Ohio, and was extended in 1905 to Bryan, Ohio. The line ran parallel to the

Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833 and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the ...

(later the

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

) on the north side of that alignment. It was envisioned as being a link to

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, Indiana, and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois. These expansions and connections were not completed. A branch of the Garrett, Auburn and Northern Electric Railroad from Waterloo, Indiana, to Bryan was never constructed. The line offered more frequent service at lower fares than the adjacent steam road. It had 31 stations on its 57-mile line between Toledo and Bryan. At its peak, Toledo was served by eleven interurban companies.Patch, David, “Toledo was hub of interurban 100 years ago,” ''The Blade'', Toledo, Ohio, 27 May 2007. “In 1905, the T. & I. constructed a power plant near the

Tiffin River The Tiffin River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 19, 2011 tributary of the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio in the United States. Headwater tributaries of the r ...

in Stryker, and rails were extended to Bryan. Later that year, the T. & I. completed a car maintenance and storage facility east of its power plant and erected a combination passenger/freight depot on East Lynn Street in Stryker. The T. & I. power plant helped electrify northwest Ohio, bringing much of the area into the ‘modern age.’”Staff, “The Toledo & Indiana Railway Incorporated”, ''The Village Reporter'', Montpelier, Ohio, 17 March 2018. “As highways and secondary roads improved, and automobiles and trucks became more common, interurban railways struggled financially. In July 1939, the

Public Utilities Commission of Ohio The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) is the public utilities commission of the U.S. state of Ohio, charged with the regulation of utility service providers such as those of electricity, natural gas, and telecommunications as well as railr ...

approved the T. & I’s request to abandon its interurban rail line. “On October 15, 1939, T. & I. Car 115 made the last trip over the rail line piloted by Lendall W. Vernier of Stryker.” The last T. & I. car arrived at the Vulcan station near the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of T ...

in 1939. Portions of the abandoned right-of-way can still be seen. On September 23, 2006, an Ohio Historical Marker recognizing Stryker's rich railroad heritage was dedicated at the Stryker depot. The passenger station for the line through

Wauseon Wauseon ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Fulton County, Ohio, approximately 31 mi (51 km) west of Toledo. The population was 7,332 at the time of the 2010 census. History Wauseon was platted 1853 when the Michigan Southern Air ...

became the Dyer & McDermott store downtown.

References

{{reflist Interurban railways in Ohio Railway lines opened in 1901 Railway lines closed in 1939