Birney Safety Cars of Terre Haute.

In December of 1918, Terre Haute went under a little reconstruction of public transportation. In December of 1919, almost all of the city services was safety-car mileage. What use to be 26 transportation cars, was now replaced with 53 up to date safety cars. The old cars could only travel at 8 or 9 miles an hour but these new Birney Safety Cars traveled at a 10 to 11 mph pace. Allowing people to get to their destination faster than before. In the above photo, the man you see standing in the middle of the road, at the bottom of the picture, is actually a traffic officer. This officer stopped vehicles traveling on Seventh Street to give the right-of-way to the Birney streetcars on Wabash Avenue. Some of the stores on left side of the photo are: United Cigar Stores, Patsy Mahaney's Candies, the Crescent Theater, and Doctor Frank Anshutz, dentist.