One of the First Street Cars
Street ear transportation is practically
obsolete in North Carolina, but there was
plenty of excitement in Asheville when the
first car operated there about fifty years
ago.
tty IDA BRIGGS II EN D ER SON
AFTER nearly half a century of
continued and most useful
h service in North Carolina, the
grinding sound of trolley-car wheels
will soon be heard for the last time
within the confines of the State.
The recent decision to grant the
Duke Power Company’s request to re¬
place electric cars in Charlotte with
buses practically reduces the trolleys
to their last stand. For, with Char¬
lotte changing to buses, Wilmington
will be the only city in the State in
which electric cars will he operated
extensively. Trolleys will continue
to run in Wilmington and between
Spencer and Salisbury, but nowhere
else.
500 Cars at One Time
Twenty-odd years ago, approxi¬
mately 500 trolleys worked their noisy
way through the streets of New Bern,
High Point. Greensboro, Concord,
Asheville, Raleigh, Winston-Salem,
Charlotte, Wilmington, Durham and
Salisbury. Within the last decade
they have switched to buses. Char¬
lotte, somehow or other, continued to
cling longer to the old system, but
when her electric cars are abolished
there will lie only about twenty such
cars operating in the State. (The
electric train which operates between
Charlotte and Gastonia cannot strict¬
ly he classified as a street car.)
Hack in the early '80’s the idea
of electric cars began to grow in the
fertile minds of progressive men who
soon commenced to experiment with
the idea. An electric-motor-driven
locomotive was tentatively tried out
on the Ninth Avenue Elevated in
New York City and this led to electric
cars being tried out on other streets.
However, these experiments — to-
together with those carried on in
Richmond, Ya., and St. Joseph, Mo.,
were largely of an experimental
nature. To Asheville and Winston-
Salem, North Carolina, goes the
honor of being among the real
pioneers in adopting electric street
cars as a permanent system.
1 happened to be in Asheville at
the time the first electric car was
operated over the steep grades of the
then small mountain town. From an
old copy of the Asheville Citizen I
have been able to get some additional
information in helping piece together
the story of that important event.
It seems that in the summer of
1888 Mr. E. D. Davidson, of Hunt¬
ington, Long Island, who was one
of the prime promoters in experimen¬
tal electric cars, came to Asheville on
his vacation. At that time Asheville,
with the aid of horse-drawn buses
which had been discarded by New
York, was struggling to transport
travelers to and from the depot, a
mile and a half down hill from the
center of the town. Mr. Davidson
became exasperated as a result of this
inefficient method of transportation,
lie solicited the cooperation of local
citizens and it was decided to build
n short line of street railway.
After the franchise had been duly
signed and the contract made with
the infant Gas and Electric Power
Company to furnish the requisite
power, Mr. Davidson sent North for
an experienced track-construction
foreman and surveyor who, with the
assistance of local workers, went to
work on the new line.
Difficult Undertaking
It was a difficult undertaking, but
finally was completed on the bitter
cold night of January 31, 1889. The
following day it was proposed to
celebrate the event by running the
first car over the short line. Pub¬
licity had been given to the occasion
and so, on the morning of February
1, crowds flocked from quite a dis¬
tance to sec this beginning of a new
era in transportation. I was among
that crowd, eager to see the wheels
turn in a car that had no visible
motive power. Perhaps it would be
best to quote from an old paper an
account of this notable occasion:
"Promptly at noon, Mr. E. D.
Davidson, the contractor for building
and equipping the street railway sys¬
tem, invited a number of guests to
inaugurate its beginning of traffic.
Three handsome passenger cars were
drawn up on the public square and
these were photographed with the
president, secretary and superintend¬
ent adding grace to the picture. After
this, promptly on the stroke of noon
— each car was guided on the trial
trip, laden with visitors from many
northern States, and the full board
ot city aldermen and mayor, besides
other prominent citizens, embracing
the leading business and professional
men of the city and vicinity.
Everything Worked Fine
“The working of the motors was
excellent Midway of the route the
operation of the patent automatic
switch was demonstrated to the
amazement of those who were not
familiar with its excellence. The cars
passing each other, running in o|>-
posite directions at the same moment,
and by current received over the same
single wire. At the new passenger
depot of the W.N.C.R.R., a luncheon
was served the visitors by that com¬
pany. After which there were
speeches by those who were instru¬
mental in the installation of the rail¬
way and those who were to conduct it.
“On the way hack the cars were
stopped at the foot of the heavy grade
on Main Street, and a team of six
strong horses were attached to the
rear car to show the difference be¬
tween horse-power and electricity.
Although each were equally loaded,
the two first ears propelled by electric
power, climbed the hill with perfect
ease, stopping whenever their oc¬
cupants wished to laugh at their less
fortunate companions, who were
labored slowly along b.v the horses,
lagging far behind. The gentlemen
in the last car decided that they
did not want any more one-horse
railway — no: not even cars drawn by
six horses, as long as the new electric
( Continued on page sixteen)
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