The old clipping shown above appeared in an area newspaper during February of 1896, just before Interurban Service became a reality in Birmingham. The Oakland Electric Railroad later was made a part of the Detroit United Railway.

This is a typical Inteurban car used on the Pontiac to Detroit line of the DUR. Motorman William Stanger appears at the far right of the photo.

Most Pontiac Division cars were stored at the SW corner of Woodward and Harmon in, or adjacent to the structure shown above. A steam powered d.c. generator in the rear of the building supplied electricity to operate the Interurbans.

The spur track visible in the foreground was used for delivering coal required to fuel the stationary steam engine which ran the generator. Part of a coal pile can be seen at the extreme left. The coal came into Birmingham via the Grand Trunk Ry. Near George St. and Woodward there was a siding where the gondolas of coal were switched onto the DUR tracks and hauled along the center of Woodward Avenue to the Power House, pulled by an electric freight motor car. Since the the gauge of the DUR was a tiny bit narrower than that of the railroad, the wheel flanges on the coal cars would squeal as they were moving through town, due to the rather tight fit. Coal was usually hauled at night.

Here we see the south side of the power house with its rather tall smoke stack at the left. Several piles of coal are also visible on the north side of the Rouge River which passed through the property. As a matter of fact, the coal spur had a separate bridge of its own, where the River passed very close to Woodward Ave.

Since the Interurban line was built several years before commercial electricity was available to Village residents, the only light bulbs in town were at Electric Park, a small amusement area built by the railway to attract Detroiters for picnicking in a semi-rural atmosphere. Located beside the Rouge River, across old Woodward from the Power House, the park was illuminated with electricity supplied by the DUR. This postcard shows the north end of the park where the Rouge River crossed beneath the Grand Trunk Railway tracks. When Hunter Blvd., now known as Woodward Avenue, was constructed in 1939 along the former Grand Trunk Right Of Way, this old masonry structure was retained as part of the bridging required to run the Rouge beneath the new highway.

Turn to the next page for MORE DUR PHOTOS.

Or you may return to THE TABLE OF CONTENTS.