Springfield City Railway electric street car, circa 1900 (Sangamon Valley Collection)
Both the Capital Railway Co. and the Springfield City Railway Co. began horse-drawn trolley service in 1866, according to the History of Springfield, Illinois, Its Attractions as a Home and Advantage for Business, written by John Carroll Power in 1871.
The City Railway and People’s Electric Railway (formerly Citizens Railway) systems were merged into the Springfield Consolidated Railway Co. in 1893, and the new company electrified the city’s trolley system.
The last Springfield street car run took place on Jan. 1, 1938.
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When I was a kid,my brother and I lived in 5th street by dodge street.we where in the back yard digging in the yard…we found what we thought was a fence post but it was tracks on a metal piece type thing.anyways the house is on the southwest corner of 5th
Tristan: Thanks for the memory.
My Dad was Sec & Treas of the Springfield Transportation Co. I was born in 1930 and I do have memories of boarding a streetcar and dropping money into a little box. We lived across the street from their building on 6th street just south of Ash. We were near the intersection of 6th and Ash. There was a park caticorner to us—-I think it was Iles Park? Yes, Sixth Street was a two way street at that time. That building has been torn down but I don’t know when. I have been back a few times and one time was in a fast food place looking across the street at my old house.
Do you remember the colors of the cars?
Thanks for the picture and info. We believed my Grandfather who lived Girard Illinois drove to Springfield to work on the trolley car as a driver between the years of 1910 to 1920’s. We only have a picture of our Grandfather in his work uniform, and it matches the one in the photo of the Springfield Transportation trolley. How exciting to have some ideas of his past history! So Thanks. God Bless!
Added from Glenda’s first comment … Our Grandfather was William Elseworth Foster; we figured he was 18 to 24 years old when he was a Conductor on the Springfield trolley cars.