{"product_id":"rockford-interurban-railway-9781531669904","title":"Rockford \u0026 Interurban Railway","description":"With today's America dominated by the automobile, it is difficult to believe that until the 1920s nearly 100 percent of the US population traveled via rail. Conventional passenger-train service spread rapidly by the 1850s, but another form of rail transportation did not emerge until the turn of the 20th century: the interurban. Almost always electric, interurbans linked cities with burghs. Rockford, one of Illinois's three largest urban centers during the 20th century, enjoyed a system appropriately named the Rockford \u0026amp; Interurban, dating from the city's horse-drawn streetcars of the 1880s. By World War I, the Rockford \u0026amp; Interurban ran from downtown Rockford to Cherry Valley and Belvidere; Winnebago, Pecatonica, and Freeport; Roscoe and Rockton; and Beloit and Janesville, Wisconsin. The Rockford \u0026amp; Interurban enjoyed a supernova of success, rising quickly in popularity before slowly dying when the automobile became widespread in the 1920s; the Great Depression finished the job in 1936.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Arcadia Publishing Library Editions\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/23\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781531669904\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 130\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.91lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.61h x 6.69w x 0.38d","brand":"Mike Schafer, Brian Landis","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36657049993372,"sku":"9781531669904","price":27.19,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_0457476e-6443-4161-a20b-94691ac32b23.jpg?v=1603889623","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/rockford-interurban-railway-9781531669904","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}