Electric Streetcars, Trolley Buses, and the move to gas-powered buses in Chicago.

An electric streetcar is tied to tracks drawing power from a pair of wires strung over the street. A trolley bus, also an electric vehicle but run on rubber tires, making it more maneuverable. Still, the buses have to keep its trolley poles in contact with those overhead wires for power.

All the big cities in the U.S. once had electric streetcar systems. When it was time to modernize, many of those transit companies bought trolley bus, after all, they already had a heavy investment in electric generating plants. The early gasoline-fueled buses were small and unreliable.

In 1930 the first Chicago trolley buses began running on Diversey Avenue. Other lines followed. Many of them were extensions of existing streetcar routes. Laying of track for through-routing of streetcars was supposed to come later.

That never happened. The Depression came, then World War II. 

In 1947 a new government agency, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), bought the Chicago Surface Lines and the ‘L’ and were consolidated as the CTA. The CTA planned to replace streetcars with buses.

At first the CTA converted some of the streetcar lines to trolley buses. The electric bus fleet grew to over 700 vehicles, running on 16 routes. 

The Chicago and Westown changeover from streetcars to buses on Lake Street in Oak Park in April of 1948.

The last Chicago streetcar click-clacked down Vincennes Avenue on June 21, 1958. There are still lasting vestiges of the streetcar system in Chicago. Many of today’s CTA bus routes and route numbers are the same as they were in the days of streetcars. And as for the tracks – a few of the streets had the tracks pulled up, but most were covered with asphalt and are still in the streets under pavement along with the "Chicago Street Paver Bricks." 

Once the streetcars were gone, clinging to electric buses seemed to make little sense. Oil was cheap. The new diesel buses cost less to operate than trolley buses. The Blizzard of 1967 decided the matter. Tied to the wires for power, trolleybuses couldn’t get around all the stalled cars.

The CTA began a determined program to replace all-electric buses with diesel vehicles. The conversion took six years. The final three trolley bus lines, Cicero, Pulaski, and North Avenue, went diesel after March 24, 1973. There was no fanfare. When their last runs were over, the trolley buses simply pulled into the North-Cicero barn, and that was it.

The Last CTA Trolley Bus at Irving Park Road and Pulaski, Saturday, March 24, 1973.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

Authentic Bookbinder's Soup Recipe from Master Chef Marshall at Chicago's Drake Hotel.

The name "Bookbinder" comes from Samuel Bookbinder, a Jewish immigrant from the Netherlands who opened the "Old Original Bookbinder Restaurant" in 1893 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The original soup is a variety of turtle soup made with typical stew vegetables such as tomatoes, carrots, celery, bell peppers, onions, leeks, mushrooms, and garlic. It is made with common snapping turtle meat. 

The soup spread to other places, such as the Drake Hotel in Chicago, where the turtle meat was replaced with red snapper. It's been said that red snapper was the substitute for snapping turtle meat because of the similar-sounding name. But it was actually chosen because of the similarity of red snapper's rich taste and texture to the snapping turtle meat. Its name became Bookbinder's Snapper Soup.

Bookbinder's Restaurant in Philadelphia closed its doors in March 2009.

Many had said that the Drake Hotel's Bookbinder soup was more delectable than that served at the famous Bookbinder's Restaurant in Philadelphia. But it was the same recipe. Master Chef Marshall Jr. of the Drake Hotel's Cape Cod Room and Camellia House Restaurants said:

"I tried unsuccessfully to wangle the recipe from the owner of Bookbinders. I got it, tho, by taking the chef out for a drink!" 

Bookbinder's soup was a staple at the Drake Hotel's Cape Cod Room, which closed for good on December 31, 2016. Following is the recipe as provided by the Master Chef of the Drake Hotel:

BOOKBINDER'S SNAPPING TURTLE OR RED SNAPPER SOUP RECIPE

Following are two sets of ingredients with respective preparations. 

sidebar

The directions were written down verbatim. Makes 15 cups or about 8 average bowls.

This photo was taken at the Cape Cod Room

INGREDIENTS, PART 1.

• 1 cup celery
• 1 cup carrots
• 1/4 cup red peppers
• 1/4 cup green peppers
• 1 1/2 cups onions
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 quarts strong vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon chicken base
• 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 1/2 cups dry Sherry
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tablespoon crushed black pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon fresh cilantro
• 1 stalk rosemary
• 4 drops caramel color
• 3/4 cup flour & 3/4 cup OR 1 1/2 sticks of butter for a roux

PREPARATION PART 1:

• Dice vegetables and saute in olive oil over moderate heat.
• Add tomato puree, tomato paste, and liquids and simmer over moderate heat.
• Add seasonings.
• Create a roux with flour and butter.
• Add caramel color, garlic, and salt.
• Mix with the vegetables/broth and cook for 2 hours in a big stockpot.
• Strain through a medium 1/6-inch China Cap or a medium strainer.

  

  China Cap

INGREDIENTS PART 2:

• 1 1/2 cups diced white onion
• 1 1/2 cups diced celery
• 1 lb. Snapping Turtle meat or Red Snapper fillets

PREPARATION PART 2:

• Steam or cook items separately.
• Coarsely chopped snapper turtle meat, or flake up red snapper after it has been cooked and add to stock.
• Adjust seasoning

Serve with a shot of fine dry Sherry per bowl or a cruet of Sherry on the side for cups of soup.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.