About
Welcome to The Big Stick. My name is Mike and the name of this blog is a tribute to Teddy Roosevelt, father of American Progressivism and a believer in living a ’strenuous life’.
I live in Louisville, KY with my wife and our two daughters, a couple of cats and a yellow lab named Murphy. My educational background includes a BA in history and anthropology from the University of Louisville and a minor in political science. What I will say about my day job is that I am a small cog in a big machine, I work in an office and I like what I do for a living.
This blog covers a lot of different topics because I am interested in a lot of different things. Some of the areas I discuss include national politics, education policy, rural and urban development and conservation. I come at most policy discussions from a conservative perspective but I am extremely interested in hearing other opinions. All viewpoints are welcome and will be treated with respect.
Thanks for stopping by.
Mike,
You couldn’t be more Incorrect….when you wrote. “I grew up in Louisville, and we never had rail service or trains extending into the suburbs.
Perhaps in your lifetime and mine as well, but in the 1908-1910 era, there were over 250 suburban rail stops and stations, two-thirds of them were electric commuter trains, the balance were steam trains. Back then they were called interurbans, today we would call them light rail. before they stopped running and faded away, there were even hi-speed trains that ran at 70mph.
These “Hi-Speed”trains were built with the extensive use of aluminum with special low slung undercarriages,for better ride characteristics, with fou powerful motors, these trains could reach near 100 mph. but were governored down to only cruise at 70……and this was in 1931 to 1939. There were a dozen lines radiating out of Louisville that provided modern speedy transit, to many suburbs a lot of which now are bereft of any kind of public transportation to the outside world.
In a sweeping arc starting the the New Albany area, these are a small sample of the suburban areas served by commuter rail, Silver Hills, New Albany, Clarksville, Sellersburg, Seymour, Scottsburg, (distant- Indianapolis), Charlestown, Jeffersonville, Glenwood, Prospect, Anchorage, Lyndon, LaGrange, Shelbyville, Hikes Point, Jeffersontown, Bashford Mannor, Fern Creek, Audubon Park, Okolona. Pleasure Ridge, Valley Station, Orell.
There was superior service by far than we have nearly, and in come cases over100 years later. Louisville even had an actual bona fide, genuine electric El train with 15 minute service between the downtown elevated stations at 1st, 4th, & 7th Streets and others stops along the line to New Albany…..starting in 1893.
Prior to that we had 1/2 hourly steam hauled commuter trains, running on a surprising number of routes back to the 1870s.
Believe it. We had suburban rail transit running out our ears, more than we could ever use, some of it quite rapid and ultra convenient and modern. Imagine a you just missed your rapid electric el train, it really didn’t matter, another would be along 15 minutes later, from 5am to midnight. THAT’S WHAT WE HAD.
Send me a direct email, and I’ll send you some pictures of that el train within a short 6 page article.
P.S. Mike I wasn’t picking on you, most local historians know little to nothing about much of this.Even some “should know” rail afficianados….ditto.
R. David Schooling
Louisville Rail Historian
David,
Thanks for the info. I actually just found out about the Louisville interurban railroad from Broken Sidewalk not too long ago. Just goes to show you that even history majors can’t know everything…
Mike
David – did you grow up in Fern Creek?
Mike, we’d like to invite you to become one of our Authors in Alexandria. You may mirror your existing posts from here or elsewhere or produce original posts there, on anything you wish, as you desire. For your contributions and participation we will blogroll you with no reciprocation required. Come contribute your perspectives and opinions to the ongoing conversations there. Contact us through the site for full invitations and instructions.
Mike,
At this time, we are sending out a copy of a new book entitled What Sex is a Republican? Stories from the Front Lines of American Politics and How You Can Change the Way Things Are to bloggers for review. In this political autobiography former State Representative to the Wisconsin State Legislature Terri McCormick takes a look at the political game from behind the curtain with one intention; to call on each of us to serve in our local, state and federal governments.
The link for What Sex is a Republican? Stories from the Front Lines of American Politics and How You Can Change the Way Things Are on Amazon is: http://www.amazon.com/What-Sex-Republican-Terri-McCormick/dp/0981572804/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268268958&sr=1-3
In her memoir, What Sex Is a Republican?, author Terri McCormick presents a case for courage from the perspective a lawmaker who is uniquely qualified to do so. Based on actual events, her book explains what happened to our political system when citizens weren’t actively engaged and then she calls on each of us to change the way things are. This book provides an insider’s perspective to the realm of American politics and the struggle of “career politicians” to stay in power at all costs. Coming from a grassroots background, she proves that ideas and “integrity leaders” can win over these career politicians and calls on Americans to take back the reins and restore a government for and by the people.
I’d love to send you a copy of the book for you to review on your blog. The author is also available for an author interview.
Thank you for considering the idea.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Rebecca
http://www.thecadencegrp.com
Hello blogger,
This is a note to let you know your blog has been added to 502 Blogs, a new online service from The Courier-Journal and courier-journal.com.
502 Blogroll is a syndication service that brings together news, opinion, features and ideas from the active blog community in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. We have collected RSS feeds from more than 65 area blogs and organized them by topic. Each topic is updated with fresh posts every hour.
We created this collection of Louisville-area bloggers in order to increase communication in our community and to spotlight local writers and topics of interest. And we thought your blog belonged in this select group. We alse think your blog will benefit from being part of the 502 Blogs community. Newspaper websites in Nashville and Cincinnati have created similar collection sites and bloggers there say the increased visibility is bringing them more visitors.
We hope you will let your readers know that your blog is part of the 502 Blogs community. I can supply graphics in a couple of different sizes if you are interested. Our URL is http://www.courier-journal.com/502. The site will also be accessible in a few days at 502blogs.com.
We welcome your feedback or questions.
Ric Manning
Online Production Manager
courier-journal.com
525 West Broadway – Louisville, KY 40202
502.582.4240 – ricman@courier-journal.com