When you visit the local sites around Springfield IL you may find yourself passing through the intersection of Spring and Allen. It might look like your average intersection these days, but on August 3rd 1890 it was the epicenter of a quarrel between two rival street car companies; The Springfield City Railway Company and the Citizen’s Railway Company.
The Springfield City Railway Company, established in 1861, had been recently acquired by Garret Van Ginkel early in 1890. Van Ginkel had already established electric Streetcar companies in multiple cities across the country before he turned his sight to Springfield. With the help of the company's secretary Edward Payne, and a piece of legislation passed in 1861 aptly named, “An act to promote the Construction of Horse Railways in the City of Springfield” Van Ginkel started planning. The act granted any Streetcar company, horse and mule powered or electrical, the permission to build and operate a rail system anywhere in Springfield, as long as it did not obstruct traffic, or impede on the right of way already in place by another company.
Van Ginkel and Payne’s goal was to expand the company's current routes in order to encircle Springfield with electrified rail lines. They began their work at the corner of Monroe and Spring then headed south. It wasn’t long before they found their work interrupted by John Henry Schuck, the president of the Citizen’s Railway Company, a horse and mule powered street car company.
President Schuck had been granted permission from the city council to run a line south on Spring St, starting from Allen. This was the same route Van Ginkel planned to lay his company's rails on. While this could have ended Van Ginkel’s project before it began, Shuck had never confirmed his right of way by placing rails along the road. What Shuck had done was start constructing a rail line running east to west along Allen; which had not yet crossed into the intersection. If Van Ginkel wanted to finish his line, he would have to act fast.
At midnight August 3, Sergeant O’Leary reported seeing several heavily loaded wagons heading down the street. He followed the wagons to the corner of Spring and Allen to see men from the Springfield City Railroad Company, under the direction of secretary Payne, laying rails from the north side of Allen St. towards South Grand Ave. (Rumors state secretary Payne had planned to place several kegs of beer at the end of the street which the workers would get to tap when they were reached.) The officer left but soon returned with acting mayor Hellweg, Chief of Police Donelan and several other officers. Workers were ordered to stop or be arrested on charges of tearing up the street without permission, an order which was obeyed, but not before the rails stretched across the intersection, preventing any other rails being built and giving right of way to Van Ginkel and Payne.
The next morning the workers for Springfield City Railway Company resumed construction. Men and women lined the street to watch as the rails were laid, many of whom were willing to help with its construction. Schuck arrived at the site later in the day with a force of men. They moved one of their street cars to the end of the line then began laying rails around the corner onto Spring St.
Secretary Payne did not initially interfere with the rails Schuck’s workers were laying. The new rails ran parallel to the line laid by the Springfield City Railway Company and Payne had Schuck’s assurance that neither he nor his company would impede the work of Payne’s company. Both companies continued working until it was discovered the Citizen’s Railway workers had begun merging their line with the Springfield City Railway, pushing out ties from under the Springfield City Railway line and replacing them with their own.
Understandably secretary Payne objected to the interference. He tried to stop the Citizen Railway workers but instead ended up in an altercation with President Schuck. News reports state that in Schuck’s anger, he grabbed secretary Payne by his collar and started shaking the other man. Newspapers report that W. H. Odiorne, the Superintendent of the gas company, saw what was happening and attempted to break up the fight. Reports of the fight vary, Odiorne either grabbed a measuring gauge and stuck it between the two men in an attempt to separate them or he deliberately struck Schuck with the measuring gauge. Whatever actually happened, Schuck received a bloody nose before retaliating and hitting Odiorne in the eye. Bystanders had to intervene and pull the two men apart.
Another fight occurred between the foreman of the Springfield Electric Light and Power Company, W.E. Gruber and Charlie Schuck, President Schuck’s son. W.E. Gruber was busy pulling up the rails laid by the Citizen’s Railway Company when he was pushed aside by Charlie Schuck. W.E. Gruber was then struck by a whip being wielded by one of the mule car drivers working for the Citizen’s Railway Company.
With the bulk of the police present busy arresting the leaders from each company, Officer McLean was left to get both sides to stop working. His attempt was ultimately unsuccessful, neither side was inclined to listen, saying they would continue to work as long as the other side did.
Citizen Railway workers decided to shift the rail car they had moved earlier in the day around the corner onto their newly built rails. Workers for the Springfield City Railway Company interfered, threatening physical harm in the form of bashed heads, if the car was moved another inch. One man is recorded as saying ‘It wouldn’t take the lift of me finger to turn the car into the ditch and break every windy in it.’ The Citizen Railway workers refrained from moving the car further.
With the main police force, the leaders of most companies, and company workers otherwise occupied, the residents of Springfield decided to finish laying track for the Springfield City Railway on their own. Officer McLean did not intervene and by the time police reinforcements arrived, Springfield residents had laid and spiked rails down Spring St almost reaching South Grand Ave.
While the police and city officials were distracted on Spring St, President Van Ginkel was a mile away on the corner of South Grand and 11th St. To complete his plan the City Railway needed to connect their 11th St line with the new line being built by Payne, on Spring St. Once again, the Citizen’s Railway Company had been granted the right to build lines on South Grand Ave from 15th to 18th St by the city. President Van Ginkel and his workers quickly and quietly laid rails from 11th to 18th St, completely covering, and claiming right of way, to the street.
By late afternoon both companies agreed to stop construction, though each kept men stationed along their lines to prevent tampering by the other company.
