Danville Mass Transit
provider of mass transportation in Vermilion County, Illinois
Danville Mass Transit is the primary provider of mass transportation in Vermilion County, Illinois with twelve routes serving the region. As of 2019, the system provided 606,155 rides over 28,659 annual vehicle revenue hours with 11 buses.
History
Public transit in Danville began in the form of mule cars starting in 1883, operated by Citizens Street Railway Company. In 1891, Danville Gas Electric Light & Street Railway Company replaced the mule cars with electric streetcars and took over operations. This company became the Danville Street Railway & Light Co. in 1899. Following the purchase of the system by William B. McKinley in 1901, the Danville streetcar routes became the center of the Illinois Traction System, officially becoming part of ITS in 1904. The early ITS lines were extensions of the Danville streetcar system to nearby towns such as Catlin, Westville, and Georgetown, followed in 1903 by the main line to Urbana and Champaign. By 1906, these routes meant that Danville had a fairly large streetcar system for such a small city.
The Danville streetcar and ITS interurban lines primarily ended at the ITS interurban station, initially on the southwest corner of Reddin Square (or Public Square) at the intersection of Main and Vermilion Streets.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Danville Mass Transit” as provider of mass transportation in Vermilion County, Illinois. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as provider of mass transportation in Vermilion County, Illinois. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q115938980. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2019, 1883, 1891 and 1899.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Danville Mass Transit”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Danville Mass Transit primary sources, Danville Mass Transit archive and Danville research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Danville Mass Transit”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Danville Mass Transit” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.