Take the Bus

In 1914 when Carl Eric Wickman of Minnesota was unable to sell a 7-passenger Hupmobile, he decided to use it to provide transport that would link two small towns: Hibbing and Alice, just two miles apart. His venture succeeded. Wickman purchased more autos, added seats and created his own bus line. At the sight of seeing these long gray autos passing by, someone remarked that they looked "just like greyhounds streaking by." Forever linked to the iconic running greyhound dog, Wickman used the idea and came up with the slogan "Ride the Greyhounds." Once headquartered in Chicago, Greyhound Corporation grew from a series of small bus companies that would merge in 1926 to form a single large corporation with a fleet of 4,000 buses by 1940. Travel by bus expanded greatly, especially in the 1950s when the major bus lines took advantage of a new interstate highway network, giving its riders an easily accessible and economical mode of cross country transport - something the railroads could not do. Riding the bus cannot compete with the speed of flying nor the privacy of driving your own auto, but the costs are reasonable and you can read a book along the way.