The interurban pair and the crossing war of 1907

1907–1908 and after

Howard closed his town chapter in 1907 with a prophecy: "with the completion of the two interurban railways soon to connect the town with South Bend, on the east and with Laporte, Michigan City and Chicago on the west, it would seem that nothing will remain to make New Carlisle one of the most desirable residence towns in the country." The two lines were building at the town's north edge that summer, and they fought over the ground. The La Porte Argus reported on 16 August 1907 that "the Northern Indiana and the Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend have come to terms in New Carlisle… The original construction of the two interurban lines resulted in three crossings over the course of one-half mile as the two companies each tried to stop the other from further construction. The agreement calls for one crossing, at the New Carlisle station." Three rail corridors came to lie side by side at the bottom of the hill, two to three blocks north of Michigan Street: the New York Central steam line; the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana Railway, the interurban; and the Chicago Lake Shore & South Bend Railway, which became the Chicago South Shore & South Bend — the South Shore. The station building at New Carlisle was built by the interurban company, whose line lay immediately north of the South Shore's. The Northern Indiana "failed during the Depression and its tracks were removed," the Register nomination records; its corridor is the one gap in the three-line frame today.