The long history of the traction industry in Milwaukee has its origins in the capitalist exploits of Henry Villard, a financial giant who formed the Northern Pacific Railroad in the early 1870's and organized the Edison General Electric Company in 1889. As a city with six fiercely competing electric companies and at least as many horse-drawn street car companies, Villard saw in Milwaukee a unique opportunity - the unification of all the electric services in the city. From 1890 to 1893, Villard pursued the venture through the New York based North American Company, then a 50,000,000 dollar railroad empire, and successfully accomplished unification. His speculative enterprise experienced rough-going as these years witnessed a series of panics in the stock and bond markets. Villard's North American interests also faced difficulties from a hostile city council bent on municipal control, a labor movement determined to win recognition, and a depression that kept car passengers and electric consumption at a minimum. At the end of 1895 the company properties folded into bankruptcy, but North American repurchased the properties in December 1895 and organized them into The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company (T.M.E.R.&L.) on January 29, 1896. The traction portion of the industry comprised an active operation with 173 closed cars, 140 open cars, and 100 miles of track.
During 1896, T.M.E.R.&L cautiously explored the possibilities of an interurban railway system. As an experiment, the company formed a wholly-owned subsidiary - Milwaukee, Light, Heat, and Traction Company--to build and hold title to electric and traction properties.
Despite the “Great Strike” of 1896 and intractable hostility targeted against the company by city politicians, T.M.E.R.& L. adapted to the automobile age and incorporated a motor bus subsidiary into its operations as early as 1919--Wisconsin Motor Bus Lines, which established lines running to Elkhorn, Delavan, Beloit, and Janesville. During the 1920's T.M.E.R.& L. dramatically expanded and modernized its city car lines and interurban lines; North American purchased the Milwaukee Northern Railway in 1928 and an ambitious program of upgrading the road and rolling stock was immediately undertaken. T.M.E.R.&L. also established the Rapid Transit Line, purchased new equipment, and made substantial improvements in the interurban routes.
The promising future of the traction industry in Milwaukee plunged with the stock market crash in 1929 and the severe economic depression which ensued. Despite efforts to encourage ridership with lower fares and longer hours of operating service, few people could afford local carfare, and in 1934 the company suffered another debilitating strike. Milwaukee street car workers brought their employers to terms after an uprising in which, aided by a socialist organization of the unemployed, they assaulted car barns, pulled off trolley poles, and crippled dozens of streetcars. T.M.E.R.& L. experienced yet another blow in 1935 when, under the auspices of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal administration, Congress enacted the Public Utilities Holding Company Act. This act was designed to break up the great nationwide utility empires. The United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the act and T.M.E.R.&L. was compelled to re-organize, subsequently divesting itself of its railway holdings. As a result, T.M.E.R.& L. became Wisconsin Electric Power Company on 21 October, 1938 and organized its transit operations as a wholly-owned subsidiary that was offered for sale. Capitalized at $41 million, the subsidiary was called The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Transport Company (T.M.E.R.&T).
Although many industries failed to survive the Depression, T.M.E.R.&L. continued to modernize and began replacing its streetcars with the faster and more popular trackless trolleys. T.M.E.R.&T. pressed ahead with the conversion program in conjunction with street rebuilding projects. However, the traction industry in Milwaukee never recovered fully from the Depression and in the succeeding years the company began disposing of its traction properties through sale and abandonment. In 1947, North American Company distributed its shares in Wisconsin Electric Power Company to its stock holders and ended a fifty-seven year relationship between the company and Wisconsin. In the same year, T.M.E.R.& T. offered its Milwaukee city lines for sale but was unable to consummate a transaction. During 1952 negotiations were successfully concluded and the property was sold to a new corporation, Milwaukee and Suburban Transport Corporation. In 1963, T.M.E.R.&T. finally went out of existence.
