October 20, 1913: Corsicana line opens for the first time with runs to Dallas.

The company operating the line is called the Southern Traction Company.

(The first Interurban in Texas was a line that ran from Denison to Sherman in 1901. J.F. Strickland, a businessman out of Waxahachie, bought the line and extended it to Dallas, calling it the Texas Traction Company. He later established the Southern Traction Company in 1912 with lines running from Dallas to Waco and another to Corsicana.)

The Corsicana/Waco lines were larger, with better-equipped cars.

The Corsicana hub was located in the building that used to be Western Auto, on the corner of Main Street and Seventh Avenue (now Corsicana Pawn).

The ticket office was located on Beaton Street.

After the car left the hub it traveled around the corner to Beaton Street and would stop in front of the ticket office in case there were any last minute passengers.

From there, it would travel down Beaton, cross Post Oak Creek, and veered slightly to the right and onward into the countryside enroute to the next destination.

One didn’t have to travel to town to ride the Interurban. You could simply flag down the car out in the middle of nowhere to get on board, provided you had the fare to do so.

There were 22 passenger cars numbered from (300-321), 6 freight motors (500-505) – (The 505 now sits in a field near Athens, and could be purchased and fixed up).

Also, there was one work car (941), and a combination work and line car (901).

The cars ran in a rotation between the Waco and Corsicana lines.

The 501 and 505 freight motors were kept in Corsicana as a home base of operations because the motorman (driver) lived in Corsicana.

Originally, each car had a motorman and a conductor just like a train.

1917: The two lines officially merged, with the old Southern Traction fleet displacing the Texas Traction fleet. With the official merger the name was changed to Texas Electric Railway.

The cars were dark Pullman green with tile red doors and windows.

The windows had a beveled green glass arch.

The roof was dark brown and the car was trimmed in gold stripes and lettering.

The interior was mahogany with gold pin striping and brass hardware.

There was one toilet, but no lavatory.

All passengers entered from the rear of the car, and there was a baggage door behind the motorman.

There was a first class compartment in the front and general seating behind that.

The ceiling was painted Willow Green with green tile floors in the general seating area; Grey tile in the first class section.

When the two companies merged, only a few cosmetic changes were made to the cars.

During the 1920s, the company wanted to brighten their image by painting the cars a lighter green with cream trim.

In the 1930s, the company went to a different scheme by painting all cars on the Denison and Waco line red with cream trim, and the Corsicana cars were painted blue with cream trim and called Bluebonnets.

The Corsicana line eventually was known as the Bluebonnet fleet.

1932: With revenues dropping and cutbacks being made to survive, the company did away with the conductor thus putting the collection of fares in the hands of the motorman.

1941: Revenues continued to decline even with the cutbacks made years earlier (mostly due to the increase in private automobile ownership and the improvement of highways).

The Corsicana line was the first line to be terminated due to the continued drop in revenue in 1941.

The remaining lines would have suffered the same fate at that time, but with WWII and gas rationing the Denison and Waco lines received a temporary stay of the inevitable.

By 1948 the Denison and Waco lines were abandoned, and the company phased the Interurban out with a new bus service.

The cars were either sold or scrapped.

2001: Someone who knew a little bit about its history spotted The Interurban 305 car in a trailer park near Granbury.

Corsicana native, Ron Maxfield, was notified.

Ron is an avid enthusiast when it comes to the Texas Electric Railway history.

He decided to contact the City of Corsicana, notably, another Ron; Ron Lynch, Public Works Director, to see if the city would be interested in recovering the intact Interurban 305 car, which could be used as a tourist attraction once it was restored.

After some time, the city agreed to bring the car back to Corsicana until they could put out bids for the restoration project.

In the fall of 2003, the 305 was sent to Edwards Railcar in Florida to be restored, with the intent of having it returned fully restored by the fall of 2004.

5 years and one move later (to a new facility in Alabama), with most of the restoration already being done, the car has yet to be delivered back home.

2007: In the fall of that year, concerned citizen Rick Hocker (owner of Black Jack McCanless Steakhouse and Saloon), Mayor C. L. “Buster” Brown, and Navarro County Times Assistant Editor Stephen Farris, traveled to Montgomery, Alabama to find out what the status was concerning the Interurban 305 car.

Steve Torrico, owner of Edwards Railcar, gave the gentlemen a tour of the facility and showed them the Interurban 305 car.

Another car, the 316, was near completion and was scheduled to go to a city on the east coast.

The 305 car, with the outside painted to the original 1913 time period, was sitting outside waiting its turn to be finished.

There was still a lot of work that needed to be done on the inside, although some of it had already been done, and the car indeed looked a lot better than it did when it was discovered in 2001.

The greatest concern was the fact the car was promised back to the city by 2004, and the city had already paid the man all of the money.

Torrico admitted that he has made some poor decisions over the years and put the city’s money into other projects other than the 305.

The car has been the subject of debate at city council meetings and casual conversation at local eateries and coffee shops.

On Tuesday evening, June 17, 2008, the city council met in closed session to discuss the 305.

They decided, during the closed session, to pick up the railcar regardless of whether it is finished or not by mid-July.

The car will finally rest at a location next to the Corsicana Visitors Center.