Streetcars [1]
Streetcars
Streetcars, also known as street railways or trolley cars, began operating in Wilmington [2] and Raleigh [3] in 1887. Initially drawn by horses [4], they were soon powered by electricity [5], first in Asheville [6] in 1889 and the next year in Winston and Salem; Wilmington made the conversion to electric streetcars in 1892. Charlotte [7]'s trolley cars appeared in 1891, and those in Durham [8] and Greensboro [9] began operating in 1902. Concord, Gastonia, Goldsboro, High Point, Salisbury, Spencer, Southern Pines, and Pinehurst also featured streetcars.
To satisfy riders, some streetcar companies had two sets of cars-closed ones for winter weather and breezy, open ones for the summer. Many companies developed outlying amusement parks [10] (sometimes called "electric parks"), picnic areas, or similar attractions to draw prospective riders. Wrightsville Beach's interurban line from Wilmington included the well-known Lumina dance pavilion, and the Charlotte street railway's Lakewood Park even provided a small lake for sailboating. With some exceptions, most of North Carolina's streetcars were replaced by motor buses [11] by the 1930s.
References:
Michael J. Dunn, "Age of the Trolley Cars," The State (1 July 1969).
William S. Powell, North Carolina through Four Centuries (1989).
Additional Resources:
"Electric Streetcars." ANCHOR. https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/electric-streetcars [12]
Turner, Walter R. "Development of Streetcar Systems in North Carolina" N.C. Transportation Museum Foundation. November 12, 2002. http://www.nctrans.org/About-Us/History/Streetcar-Systems.aspx [13] (accessed June 14, 2012).
The North Carolina Transportation Museum official website: http://www.nctrans.org/ [14]
Whisenant, David. "Streetcar history rolling into the NC Transportation Museum" wbtv Salisbury. September 4th, 2011 http://salisbury.wbtv.com/news/arts-culture/66663-streetcar-history-rolling-nc-transportation-museum [15] (accessed June 14, 2012).
Coleman, Alan, and Humphreys, Ken. "Guide to Past & Present Traction Systems in North Carolina." Piedmont and Western Model Railroad Club. 2010. http://www.pwrr.org/NCtrolleys.html [16] (accessed June 14, 2012).
Image Credits:
A crowded streetcar in Concord, ca. 1910. North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.
1 January 2006 | Williams, Wiley J.