The Interurban Railroad was an electric passenger train that connected Carmel to many cities that were too far to walk or drive a horse and buggy. People in Carmel rode to Indianapolis to shop at large stores like L.S. Ayres, and people who lived out of town rode the train to Carmel to buy the products sold at stores here. Many Carmel people worked in Indianapolis. They boarded the train each morning at the station that used to be located on the southeast corner of Main Street and 1st Avenue SW to get downtown.

The interurban was first built through Carmel in 1903. The railroad setup electrical lines along the track and supplied electricity to Carmel the following year.

Thirty-four cars came through Carmel going north and south each day, one arriving every half hour. Because it was an electric train, it did not make very much noise. Occasionally people would not hear it coming as they crossed the tracks and would be hit. In 1919 two interurban cars collided in Carmel. Two people died and many more were injured.

The last interurban car came through Carmel in 1938. Most people had cars or rode buses to Indianapolis and other cities; they didn’t need the train anymore.