INTERSTATE POWER COMPANY

Photo courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/ykyguidiiyr/

1939 rate schedule. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

Outlet protector. Photo courtesy: Jim Lang

INTERSTATE POWER COMPANY. Interstate celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 18, 1975. The company began as early as 1913 when a group of Chicago financiers began consolidating small utility companies as part of the Utilities Development Corporation. In 1924 the corporation acquired the DUBUQUE ELECTRIC COMPANY, then the sole remaining provider of electricity to Dubuque with subsidiaries supplying power to East Dubuque and Dyersville.

Drivers for the company pause for a photo. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

c.1915.Image courtesy: http://www.cityofdubuque.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/2926

In 1925 Chicago financiers incorporated the Interstate Power Company. The home office was located in the former offices of Dubuque Electric at 10th and Main. A period of rapid growth for the company resulted in the company spreading farther into Iowa and parts of Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and the province of Manitoba, Canada. In 1925 the company's passenger buses were introduced to the community.

Bus transportation in Dubuque has often been linked to the beginning of the DUBUQUE OMNIBUS COMPANY. It was dissatisfaction with the service or this company, or possibly the view of an economic opportunity, that led the BYRNE BROTHERS to begin a bus service in 1895. The new company was backed by the ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD which complained that the older company had sub-standard equipment and had thrown its support to the Milwaukee Railroad. Hotel operators in Dubuque felt that the older company had often steered customers to the HOTEL JULIEN. There was the general feeling that the town was large enough for two companies. (1)

The honor of providing the first Dubuque-East Dubuque bus service belongs to the IDAHO AUTOMOBILE AND ELECTRIC TRANSPORTATION COMPANY which operated in 1908. In 1909 Henry Liddle began carrying passengers. It was not mentioned at the time the name of his company, how many vehicles he operated, or what schedule he maintained. (2) To provide better street lights, the Dubuque city council in 1917 prohibited persons, firms or corporations from operating bus lines with terminals on Main Street or Eighth Street between Clay and Bluff. Dubuque bus lines were required to relocate to less congested streets. (3)

On an experimental basis, Interstate Power buses began operating on a regular route and regular schedule on July 19, 1925. As owners of the streetcar operation, Interstate Power reduced its fleet of STREETCARS from eighty-five to sixty due to the increasing popularity of automobiles. The company approached the city council and received a franchise to operate bus feeder lines, a plan used successfully by the East Dubuque Electric Company to transport thirsty Dubuque residents into Illinois after Iowa instituted PROHIBITION. The test area for the buses served people living in the West 14th Street and North and South Grandview areas with connecting streets. Street cars continued to serve the rest of the community. There were four buses purchased for the trial period and with additional equipment the company's cost was $60,000. (4)

The new buses operated on a twenty-minute schedule starting at 6:00 a.m. and operating until midnight. The first bus left the downtown starting point at 9th and Locust at 6:00 a.m. and the last bus left MOUNT CARMEL MOTHERHOUSE at 11:30 p.m. (5)

The one-way fare on the buses was ten cents. There were no transfers from buses to street cars or from street cars to buses. During rush hours, an extra bus was placed into service. All buses had a capacity of twenty-five passengers. (6)

Bus token. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

A half fare token. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

A student fare token. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

Bus transfer

Bus schedule

Bus barn on Central. Photo courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/pages/You-know-you-grew-up-in-Dubuque-Iowa-if-you-remember/130170407077838

In 1932 streetcar operation ended, and Interstate began operating a full system of buses. This lasted until 1969 when fares were increased and service reduced. The stock market crash of the GREAT DEPRESSION brought the company's good fortune temporarily to an end. Thirteen years and three company reorganizations would be needed to restore Interstate Power's financial stability. As part of reorganization, fringe operations were sold including the Dubuque bus system that Interstate had created from the trolley system in 1933. In 1936 when Interstate's bus fleet operated seven days a week, Dubuque residents could have a day's worth of sightseeing for twenty-five cents.

In 2008 Interstate Power bevcame part of ALLIANT ENERGY CORPORATION, a public utility holding company incorporated in Madison, Wisconsin in 1991.

The 1942 Dubuque Classified Business Directory through 1989 Dubuque City Directory listed the company at 1000 Main.

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Source:

1. "A New Bus Line," The Dubuque Herald, November 17, 1911, p. 8

2. " 'Bus Service on with East Dubuque," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, December 11, 1909, p. 8

3. "Install Better Light Facilities," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, June 20, 1917, p. 2

4. "Starts Operations," Telegraph Herald, July 19, 1925, p. 1

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

Bergstrom, Kathy, "Interstate Traces Roots to Dubuque," Telegraph Herald, Nov. 12, 1995, p. 2

See: CINDERELLA