A Second Look; Springfield On Track: A History Of Trolleys In Springfield

A journey into the past with me next. As we take a second look at Springfield ontrack history of trolleys in Springfield. A second look is brought to you by the members of WG Why the program was appointed to a grant from the Springfield people wind up. We're here to really please my family. If I tell you where I am Lynn ROGINSKY for many years before there were cars and buses to take people to and from work or away from the city on weekends. There was the trolley trains like this Shelburne Falls in Coleraine street railway combine numbered and it was built in Springfield in 1896 by Watts and manufacturing and resides right here at the Shelburne Fosse trolley museum. Anyone who's ever taken the trolley knows it's not only about the destination the ride is part of the fun.

Springfield ontrack history of trolleys and Springfield recapture some of that fun with a look back at how these trains help expand the city and grow our region. We think this show is worth a second look. Americans are and have always been on the move from the pioneer spirit that brought immigrants across the vast ocean in search of a better life to the first steps on the ground. Americans seem to have an urge to explore new places and to seek out ways to get there faster better and more efficiently. Transportation in the mid 1800s centered around the horse and horse drawn carriage. Springfield was no exception. But owning and caring for a horse and carriage was expensive so most people got around by walking or by bicycle homes and businesses were built generally within close distance of one another so that people could live and work comfortably within a

reasonable walking distance. Relief was soon to come. The push was on to come up with an inexpensive way to move people around safely within the city limits. The first horse cars in the country came on the scene in the 1850s and the use of the horse car spread rapidly in larger communities. As the civil war ended Springfield was also growing and feeling the need to provide better public transportation for its residents. Just one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Hamden County and Henry Alexander was the first to get permission to set up a horsedrawn railway within the city. But they lacked the capital to get it up and going. Mr Chapman was not committed enough to the idea to contribute his own money. So George Atwater stepped in. A wealthy businessman from Ohio Atwater had seen what the effects of a solid public transportation system could do for a growing community. He took over the bid for a horse drawn railway system amid considerable opposition.

Springfield residents were not supportive of the idea. The local newspaper called it a harebrained scheme. There was a great amount of opposition from the laboring man who fought the horse car would threaten their own businesses. But Mr. Atwater was not to be persuaded otherwise. He provided the needed stock and the first rails were laid on July 10th 1869 by March of 1870. The business was up and running with four horse cars 24 horses and eleven men. Mr. Atwater was a very bold brash adventurous man who had an awful lot of vision and confidence in his own my dear. He decided that Springfield as a city that was moving forward in the period right after the Civil War needed a public transportation system. The horse drawn trolley proved a great success. By 1890 the Springfield company had 74 passenger horse cars for snowplows

three sweepers 250 horses and one hundred eighty six employees. The horse car was not only shaping Springfield but also many of the surrounding communities in Western Massachusetts. In July of 1886 an enthusiastic resident of Pittsfield wrote her role on the gorgeous cars of progress roller posti tinkled signal bell. Here's luck to them and to the men who pay the bills. We hope that every trip will have glowed like the first but with money in them. Believe me thousands hundreds or a time of great change throughout the United States and the world. It was an era of growth in factories immigration and transportation the introduction of the horse trolley had an immediate impact on the growth of Springfield with quick cheap transportation now available to working citizens. The city's first true suburban neighborhood the McKnight area sprang up. It was only the beginning.

The need for something better was already in the works. The horse cars had their limitations. Housing feeding and caring for the large number of horses was expensive and cumbersome inventors throughout the country had been working for years to come up with a new way to power the trolley using such things as the steam engine cables and electricity. Different systems were used with varying degrees of success in bigger cities throughout the United States. But it is the spring loaded pole mounted on the roof of the car that proved to be the success of the electric trolley. The pole touching the electric wires above it delivered the power to the motor which was encased under the car protecting it from vibration from the tracks. The first of these electric trolley cars began operation in 1888. The era of the electric trolley car was born. In 1890 the first test of an electric overhead line was held from

state in Main Street to the entrance of Forest Park. It went without a hitch and ignoring strong objections from the telephone company. The installation of overhead wiring began on June 6th 1890 the first Springfield company electric trolley car left downtown Springfield for Forest Park. By the end of 1891 all of the horse car tracks had been electrified. The electric trolley took off. For 30 years the trolley route Springfield the horse car brought on the development of the McKnight area. The electric trolley is credited with the transforming of the Forest Park section into a bustling beautiful neighborhood. In 10 years the population of Forest Park jumped from twenty five hundred residents to over ten thousand new lines and tracks were laid at an astonishing rate connecting people in places that had never been connected before. It was an

exciting and prosperous time to live. It was the height it was one of the Golden Age. Business was booming. The population was surging. It was a feel good time there was retail there was they had or there was excitement there was prosperity. Springfield was the place to be. George Atwater who had endured a great amount of public criticism and humiliation for beginning the horse car operation in Springfield was now enjoying the last laugh. The success of the street railway company had meant great personal success for Mr. Atwater and he wanted to celebrate his good fortune by building a trolley barn for the ages. In most cities across the country trolley barns were merely

storage houses and not significant architectural structures. George Atwater had other plans. He contacted the finest architect in Springfield of that time Eugene C. Gardner. Gardner had been instrumental in planning and laying out significant portions of Springfield including the Watson works industrial area and the Brightwood neighborhood in the north end. Mr. Atwater spared no expense in the design and construction of the Springfield Street Railway trolley barn which is why 100 years later Springfield residents can still marvel at this unique beautifully designed building. The building is very flamboyant. It is done in a color which was quite unusual for Breck there's only a few other buildings in Springfield all of this by off color. It has lots of ornamentation there is detail elaborate detail on the exterior which again for utility building a commercial building is not usually seen.

If you look at the front of the building there's an arch over the front door and on either side of the arch and brownstone there's a trolley wheel and there's a look for that is coming out of the trolley wheel which signifies that that was the home of the electric trolley and then if you look further on the front of the building those brick murals of trawlers in the brownstone and also those two columns. Go to the top of the building on the other side of the base of one column is the number 18 and on the other side it's 90 so that doesn't make the building was built in 1897 So I think it's a great building. In June of 1897 the Lawson car works which would become one of the foremost electric trolley suppliers in the country delivered the first double truck cars to Springfield. And their success rapidly replaced the single trucks they could carry three times as many seated passengers and also a lot of room

for standing passengers. The closed platforms at both ends of the trolley car created the need for both a motorman and a conductor the motor men drove the trolley and the conductor collected the fares. These were valued jobs and the trolley motormen and the conductor develop their own unique stature within the Springfield business community. They were a uniform and one of the things you have to remember or think about is money the emigrants had a great deal of respect for people wearing the uniform they came from countries or. People who are uniforms are looked up to. There are a number of people from Ireland Scotland who could speak English when they came to this country and they go jobs as motor men working on the trolley system as trolley transportation took hold in Springfield the city blossomed as tracks were laid.

Neighborhoods follow the real estate market flourished. Residents could now have the best of both worlds. They could buy their homes in outlying more rural forested areas and ride the trolley downtown to work every day. Developers became rich building elegant homes for the wealthier Springfield citizens. It was during the trolly era that the great mansions were built which gave Springfield its nickname the city of homes. The trolley had a great impact not only on the growth and formation of neighborhoods but also on industry from farming to delivering mail. The trolley provided a relatively cheap way to transport goods and services both within the city and in neighboring towns to the north such as chicken beans or yolk and beyond and south as far as Hartford Connecticut. But city forefathers in the transportation industry realized

the trolley could do much more than just transport residents to and from work. As cities grew and most residents settled into steady jobs and pleasant Baber hoods they found themselves with extra time and a little extra cash. The automobile was still far out of reach for most citizens. When the doors America's first automobile appeared on Springfield streets in the 1890s it was viewed as a curiosity only available to the very rich. The trolley car came to the rescue. The use of the electric car for sporting events educational cultural and recreational opportunities grew dramatically as residents began enjoying more leisure time. Marshall Hanson is a lifelong Springfield resident whose first job was with the Springfield Street Railway Company. I can rate quo. When. My my folks wanted to go out and down the city to Yankees play ball down in New York City and take to trial a car down of it to the

railroad station get on a train and go down the bot to New York to see a ballgame. I can recall when they used to have technics and you'd see anywhere from 10 to 20 open cars that get ready to go out the Forest Park. I remember on Saturday my mother would take me down particularly in the summertime and we'd go to Chris because of the nice and cool in there and that was pretty amazing for six or seven year old you know. It was hot outside and one of the building that was cool. So that's what I remember about being young and running that always been coming down town residence with relatives in outlying areas could visit more frequently by riding the trolley. One of the things that we used to try to do is to see who would get the outside seat. And when you're going through the center of a lawn mower for example you'd be going by cars and you are rather trees and you'd reach out to try and grab some of the leaves that we spent the entire day at the foreign minister Sunday.

And I couldn't remember the men and the young boys would be pitching horse shoes a kid to be playing and all the women would be getting together and cooking this Sunday dinner. But not in park Riverside Park which was built soon after in the eastern states exposition became the most treasured summertime and early fall destinations for families throughout the area. Businesses sponsored employee picnics at the amusement parks and newspaper boys working for the Springfield Union were rewarded each summer with a special day at Riverside Park. It was always had a great trip because again there was not a place that you would normally go if you're here. But it was an all day and then all of your expenses were paid and what they were doing to give freedom and it was a dozen tickets for rides and of course free transportation to and from Riverside Park. And it was a great excursion for

kids. The trolley car itself had various designs and functions over its approximate 50 year history in Springfield. From the single cars first introduced in 1890 the cars had many different looks both inside and out. Seats ranged from plain hardwood to fabric cane straw imitation leather real leather and fine green wood special cars were designed for particularly important passengers Springfield's most well-known parlor car was the rock Rimmon sporting lace curtains in the window and wicker chairs the parlor car was used for funerals weddings lodge outings church picnics and other special trips. First of all Iraq Grenada reds on leave was built. Or so we were told anyway for a day and a man that was then president of the Springfield St.. One of the reasons he first designed it was because in the winter time he didn't have any way to get the

work in the snow and so we figured if he had this fancy trolley car and he could take the trolley to work the city of Springfield required the trolley companies to clear their own snow so cars were developed with huge scrapers mounted on the front. These intimidating monster trucks became a familiar sight after major winter storms. The trolley snowplows were very effective and trolley lines were only shut down a few times during their 50 year reign. Even though dozens of trolley cars moved throughout the Springfield area daily it's uncertain just how common accidents involving trolleys and pedestrians were. To avoid any potential tragedy trolley companies came up with a unique way of dealing with it. They also had this. Frame I think you would call it on the front of the trolleys that they referred to as a cow catcher and supposedly that's a cow was walking along the

track and the trolley was traveling too fast to stop in time it would kind of pick them up and all of. And it was also true that it would serve the same purpose as far as a human being was concerned trying to use continue to expand throughout the early 1900s until 1921 when the last trolley extension was built from Karoo street through East Springfield to Berkshire Avenue. More and more automobiles were making their way on to Springfield streets then and the first auto bus was put into service on February 2nd 1923. Even though the trolley line is gradually replaced by bus service the trolley still ran successfully particularly to favorite summer destinations through the Depression years. The trolley was still the cheapest form of transportation. But progress as defined by the personal ownership of a car was not to be stopped as the Ford Motor Company perfected mass produced automobiles. The desire for personal transportation as well as service not tied to trolley lines

increased almost as quickly as the trolley tracks went in over the course of 15 years. They were gone. The trolley holds a significant and astounding place in Springfield history that trolley car was associate at what what everything that people use stuff like the dough to go to that date to go to go to the park. As a kid seven eight years old or whatever I look forward to writing a letter like that they were fun to write it. And it was kind of like the highlight of my day or my week to write a literalist. In a sense it's good that they don't have that experience. But Mr. Pic not only along with the Springfield librarian Museums Association as well as the staff and students at Roger Putnam vocational high school decided to do the next best thing. To mark the 1 100th anniversary of the construction of the trolley barn they took on an ambitious year

long project to study and learn about the history of transportation in the city. Well constructing a replica of the trolley barn and a model of a Springfield trolley car. Something has to bring them to school every day something has to keep them here and standing in a box until it's ended beautifully is wonderful but if you do that for seven months you're not going to be real interested in coming to school. So the challenge has to be there. OK. The challenges the mathematics the challenges in laying out what you're building and then trying to produce it. I started trying to figure out what size it was going to be. I can walk back and forth across the quadrangle and there's the person that designed the trolley around it was the same person who designed the addition to the George Walter Vincent Smith art museum. So there's a similarity in the design so I notice that if you put one next to the other this would look very tiny. We didn't do it on a larger scale look like a dog house or something. So I kept making a bigger and bigger in my mind until eventually got to this proportion which you can see is pretty large for a student project like this.

We're working on a column that will help. Run of the building on the top floor

and it's also look like sandstone. So we're going to hit it to make it look like sands from all the windows. I have to measure officer investments going to go up to the bottom of the window and they put a line into the roll the window sill. So when people walk by they will see the windows one by one. This was the life of the breakaway. So the project expanded as it went along

in a very very good way when people asked to be coming by. People are willing to learn. We learned so much more than we could ever come for a normal academic year with. The old fashioned process you sit in a class and you went to twenty two students and that's effective. But this is even more than human because it comes from is a book Beyond something from which is a nice thing and some of them will only do that and that's fine but it is a much much broader disk just the scale and the idea of doing it is I mean it is for the city of Springfield. That's that's ultimately what it's for. And to have that kind of could that notion in their minds is a very very important thing I think it's a part of history that should be preserved. It's good for them to understand whole transportation of all the loo. City residents and local dignitaries have the opportunity to show their

appreciation of this collaborative effort and admire the work of the students and staff. When the trolley barn replica was officially opened on June 21st 1997 100 years after the original trolley barn was completed the sheer size of the replica standing at twenty four feet long 16 feet wide and 16 feet high makes it an impressive sight. But it is the student's achievements in the meticulous detail in the architecture that is truly remarkable. The careful work done on the historically significant carvings on the front of the building the moldings the beautifully arched windows and of course the name above the door are a fitting and admirable tribute to George Waters vision. It brings the memory and the significance of the trolly era back to Springfield in a real and exciting way. I'm really very enthusiastic about it and certainly the kids of the entire school. You get a lot of credit for what they've done on this project it's

absolutely excellent. I think this is a really powerful statement about how the museums and the libraries can really serve the school community and the high school kids in the city. As far as being a point of interest and introducing into the history of the city and giving them a another route to learning about history and about the Rhone and empowerment possibilities that they can do these things and they can make great projects. I didn't really think I could work on it. Like when they handed out the pearls I would look at it was Crow. But as I read it and as my teachers helped me as I understand it and they came easy to me. I really I'm really grateful that I could understand it and I think I can do more things in the future. I think the students a new now truly believe in themselves. They know they can do any task that comes to them no matter how hard they know that they have to have a class. So we're never weenie they know there are things you

know that they have the skills to succeed in life. I think it's one of the main things to build on is that this was a very inventive place a very very forward moving place and it's a and b and I think that like the students we should be part of those changes and making it a better place and I think they're aware that they're really enjoying you know if their dedication and commitment shown by put them high school students and staff in this project is any indication of Springfield's transportation future. The city is sure to be right on track. This beautifully restored trolley serves the people of its hometown for more than 30 years and if you visit the Shelburne Falls trial and museum you can ride it too. Thanks a lot. Fancy later. Join us next time we take a second look at her place in history. Thanks for watching. A second look is brought to you by the members of WG Why the preceding program was funded by a grant from the

Springfield people in Darfur.