Horse cars on two banks: the first line, 1885-1886

1885-1890 · THE HORSE-CAR ERA

The opening: Mishawaka's street railway began as a single line between the two towns, and the city's own commissioned history dates its opening to the day. Construction of a streetcar line connecting Mishawaka to South Bend began in early September 1885 and was ready for the public a month later; on 10 October 1885 the three available streetcars carried 1,600 passengers, with sometimes 80 passengers crowded into cars built to carry half that number. Hourly runs were scheduled between Mishawaka and South Bend, in De Kever's words bringing the two municipalities closer together than ever before. The cars were horse-drawn: the line was the work of the South Bend & Mishawaka Street Railway Company, and the route record dates the north-bank line's horse-car service from 1885.

Two lines, two banks: The company built two lines between the cities, one on each side of the St. Joseph River — the fact the Central Electric Railfans' Association's history puts first in its account of the property. The north-side line came first, in 1885; the route record dates the south-side line's horse cars from 1886. The two lines carried the route names they kept into the bus era: North Side Mishawaka and South Side Mishawaka. From 1885 to 1889, on ChicagoRailFan's compilation of the route record, the South Bend & Mishawaka Street Railway Company operated both. The lines were intercity in everything but name — four miles of river road between two towns bound together by the Ball Band and Dodge works at one end and Studebaker and Oliver at the other — and they were worked as one property with South Bend's city lines from the start, the arrangement every successor inherited.

Sources:

1. Peter De Kever, Mishawaka: A History (city-commissioned history) — construction begun early September 1885; the opening day of 10 October 1885, 1,600 passengers on three cars; hourly runs.
2. Central Electric Railfans' Association, Electric Railways of Indiana (Bulletin 104, 1960) — the South Bend & Mishawaka Street Railway Company built two lines between the cities, one on each side of the St. Joseph River.
3. ChicagoRailFan, South Bend transit route record — Route 9, North Side Mishawaka, horse cars from 1885; Route 11, South Side Mishawaka, horse cars from 1886; the company's operation of both routes, 1885-1889.