Streetcar Service in Columbus (Part 2)

SOURCE: Streetcar Service in Columbus, Georgia by John R. Lassiter. Muscogiana, Summer 1991, Volume 2, Numbers 1 and 2. John S. Lupold Collection (MC197), Series 6, Box 4, Folder 9.

(Editor's Note: Several of the images that have been included are from Historic Columbus' postcard collection. They are dated from c.1900 - 1915.)

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In relating the year 1895 to Columbus history one can express it best as "the year of the streetcar." The projected use of all electric cars throughout the city was an event much looked forward to by Columbusites. Four new electric streetcars were displayed on the Broad Street dummy siding between 10th and 11th Streets on the 11th of January. They were objects of great excitement to the people passing by. Six more new cars were soon expected. On the same day one of the new cars was tried out on the Rose Hill line and found to be in excellent working order.

Two days prior to the beginning of city-wide service a charter was granted to the Columbus Railroad Company by way of the Drake and Stratton Company for the construction of an electric streetcar line across the 14th Street bridge. The line would extend to the foot of Summerville Hill, with an additional line going out Crawford Road to the Chattahoochee Brewing Company. A line in lower Girard was being considered, but nothing was decided at that time.

At 7:00 on the morning of January 25, 1895, electric street cars made their first trip on Broad Street, inaugurating city-wide service. In anticipation of this, and to perhaps draw more riders, the streetcar fare had been reduced from 10 cents to 5 cents on all cars after 9:00 PM.

As late as the previous Thursday night, workers were still in the process of hanging wire and laying track. At that time the original North Highlands line was altered with the addition of a switch at the intersection of 2nd Avenue and 15th Street. Instead of following 2nd Avenue to 11th Street and then right to the bell tower, the cars followed 2nd to 15th, turned down 15th, and then out Broad Street. This first trip down Broad “...attracted as much attention as a passing circus procession.” On the same day a car was placed in service on 12th Street connecting Union Station with downtown.

The owners of the Columbus Railroad Company and the people of Columbus were anxious to see the entire city under the service of the new electric cars, but not patiently anxious, as was evident by the work being done as the new cars were put into service. On lower Broad, wire was still being hung on the 25th, the line only running as far as the Rankin House (hotel) on the corner of Broad and 10th Street. Tracks were to be laid on all streets from 5th to 15th except for 9th, which was occupied by the tracks of the Mobile and Girard Railroad. The Enquirer summed up the view of many Columbus citizens during this period, " ... when the system is completed it will be the finest in the south."

A well-known Columbus landmark emblematic of the turn of the century and dear in the minds of many people was built in 1895; this was the transfer station. Upon the request of John Flournoy, Alderman John P. Turner made a motion that the station be located at Broad Street and 10th Street. Columbus city council reviewed the plans and the proposed site, granting a petition for that location. The council heartily endorsed this endeavor, obviously thinking of the many advantages Columbus, its citizens, and businesses would gain by the completion of such a project. No objections were voiced, and the arrangements for construction were put into motion.

Extra capital from the sale of stock in 1894 funded the construction of the transfer station, as well as the car barn. According to the cornerstone, G. E. Young and Company were the contractors. The building they constructed was one story and fashioned from red brick. The waiting rooms of the transfer station were lighted and furnished, as well as being heated in the winter and cooled in the summer by electric fans. Completion and initial use of the station came in May 1895. Sometime in the period of 1908-1910 Stone and Webster (the eventual owners of the company) added a second floor to the station and used it as office space. Further growth then forced officials to find additional space across the street in the Garrard building, resulting in the second floor being expanded into space for public use.

On the morning of April 26th, 1895, electric cars made their first trip around Wildwood Park. There were several mishaps the day of that first running, including a freight train running into the main wire at City Mills. The upgrading in service by the establishment of the electric cars came as a relief to some more than others. Since the establishment of the belt line in 1888, children from in town often used it as their way to attend the Wynnton School and efforts were made to comfort the parents of such children: "...parents whose children come on the Dummy Line may rest assured that they will be fully protected. A teacher will be on the 8:30 AM and 3:30 PM train, and pupils will be considered under his charge from the time they enter until they leave the car."

The annual stockholders meeting for 1895 was held on May 20th and the following were elected to the board of directors: J. F. Flournoy; L. F. Garrard; F. D. Peabody; O. B. Grimes; H. H. Epping, Jr.; J. H. Drake, of Philadelphia; and J. Wainwright, of Pittsburgh. The following officers were then elected: J. F. Flournoy, president; J. H. Drake, vice-president; W. S. Drake, treasurer; O. B. Grimes, secretary; J. H. Henderson, superintendent; and Louis F. Garrard, attorney. At this meeting it was decided that the Phenix City routes would be established as agreed upon in January and that there would be no electrical lines crossing the 14th Street bridge. Instead, connection would be made by horse-drawn cars. There were hopes of a new steel bridge, but the company decided to go with the city's offer of using the current wooden structure. Work was expected to begin immediately.

After plans had been made to cross the bridge, the bridge committee of city council decided that it would be wise and in good order to conduct a feasibility study of the project. Council had previously refused to allocate the money necessary to repair the structure, and it was thought that the matter had simply died out. Two members of the committee measured a streetcar, then the bridge, and subsequently found that there was insufficient space for both a streetcar and another vehicle to occupy the bridge at the same time. The committee thus decided to recommend to the council that the grant of extension to the Columbus Railroad Company be revoked.

The grant was revoked, and streetcars didn't cross the 14th Street bridge at that time. That bridge was partially washed away by flood on February 27th, 1902, and in 1903 the structure was finally replaced by one of steel (below), thus ushering in the use of electricity for streetcars across the river. In 1922 the present structure was built by the Hardaway Contracting Company, complete with streetcar tracks.

By 1897 the Columbus Railroad Company had nineteen cars in operation, eleven open and eight closed. They could each carry approximately forty people and were twenty-eight feet in length. In addition to Wildwood Park, the company owned and operated lines going to two other parks, North Highlands Park in North Highlands, and Lincoln Park. Lincoln Park was the local park for Blacks and was located about two miles from the terminus of the Rose Hill line. All lines were constructed of fifty-six-pound T rail mounted on standard railroad ties above ground, much resembling conventional railroad track. Because of the increased demand made by the extension of lines under electrical service, two additional turbines were installed by the Drake and Stratton Company at City Mills and were in service by March of 1897.

With the turn of the century there also came a change in control of the Columbus Railroad Company. Controlling interest was transferred from the Drake and Stratton Company to Stone and Webster Electrical Association in June 1901. At that time George J. Baldwin took over as president, moving John Flournoy to the position of vice president. As an entrepreneur, Baldwin established and cultivated many businesses around the country. Born in Savannah, Georgia, he was part of the business world at an early age and by the beginning of World War I had achieved a national reputation for his dealings. In 1889, Stone and Webster began as a firm of consulting engineers with Baldwin's association beginning in 1898. By the year 1906, Baldwin had acquired and was managing streetcar lines and related interests in Columbus as well as in Jacksonville, Florida and Houston, Texas. The city of Columbus benefited greatly under Baldwin. He was instrumental in the building of Goat Rock and Bartlett's Ferry dams and strongly encouraged the development of industrial schools in the city.

Baldwin soon discovered that in the company's years of operation up to 1900, enough money had not been earned to pay back interest on debts to the Drake and Stratton Company or to pay a dividend on stock. Electrification failed to increase receipts. His explanation for this was the large population of low wage mill workers in and around Columbus. Slightly more than one month after the Baldwin takeover, the city council established the separation of races on streetcars.

During the early 1900s, service provided to electrical customers in Columbus proved unreliable due to the constant fluctuation in the flow of the river. Streetcars in town often ran at half speed and lights throughout the city flickered at times, when in use. The Columbus Railroad Company made an attempt to remedy this with the addition of a new boiler and generator at the car barn steam plant. This addition doubled the output of the plant, and most importantly, provided auxiliary power that was free of the river's influence. For years Baldwin had been annoyed with unpredictable power, so much so that he worked quite heavily in lobbying with Stone and Webster for the necessary capital to construct a dam that would control the flow of the river. The result was Goat Rock Dam in 1910.

In 1902, Baldwin acquired the Gas Light Company of Columbus. The Columbus Electric Company was formed at that time to administer it and another acquisition, the Chattahoochee Falls Company. Four years later, in 1906, the Coweta Power Company and the Chattahoochee Falls Company were merged to form the Columbus Power Company. This action put both it and the Columbus Railroad Company under the same management. The Columbus Power Company in 1907 decided to build a new steam plant slightly northeast of City Mills. In June 1911, this plant was in operation and in 1914 all electrical railway generating equipment was moved from City Mills to this plant. Another Stone and Webster interest, the Columbus Electric Company, merged in May 1922 with the Columbus Railroad Company and the Columbus Power Company to form the Columbus Electric and Power Company. On January 30, 1930, the assets of this company were finally transferred to the Georgia Power Company.

The demise of the streetcar system in Columbus was a gradual process over a period of time in which the automobile and the bus were being developed and refined. The first indication of such a movement came on September 4th, 1924, when the Columbus Transportation Company was formed by the Georgia Power Company for the purpose of providing bus service to Phenix City.

This was taken of an advertisement for the Howard Bus Line

in W.C. Woodall's 1928 Industrial Index.

Buses first replaced streetcars in Columbus on the belt line on August 23, 1925. By this time the old belt line was considered to be two separate divisions - the East Highlands line and the Wynnton line. The dividing point was 17th Street. Rose Hill received buses by September 1st of the same year. The substitution of buses on Rose Hill came later than the belt line because of the weakened condition of the underground cable. The 1924 accomplishment of burying these cables was another nail in the coffin of Columbus streetcars because in Wynnton it was not considered feasible to replace the cables. Arrangement of the bus schedules made the depot car unnecessary, and it was taken off also at this time. The East Highland line's new terminus was at Wildwood Drive and 17th Street, with transfers being issued there for buses of the Wynnton Circuit.

In its last year of complete operation, the belt line ran from Broad down 10th Street to 10th Avenue, turning towards the north, the track crossed what is now an occupied block and crossed Wynnton Road at Adair Street. After crossing Wynnton, the tracks followed the present Bradley Drive. Turning slightly in front of the office of the Muscogee County School District, the line started up Wynn's Hill on the south side of the extension of Buena Vista Road. The location of the track was engineered in such a way as to provide the small steam engines used when the line was opened with as much traction as possible for the climb up the hill. The small turn at the bottom gave them a running start. Coming out at the intersection of Wynnton and Buena Vista Roads, the line turned and followed the north side of Wynnton Road to Wynnton Elementary School. Turning to the left it went down Wildwood Avenue and crossed 17th Street. Continuing on Wildwood, the tracks crossed Garrard Street, Cherokee Avenue, and ran directly across the site of St. Elmo Elementary School, where the Wildwood Station was located. The line then continued down 17th Avenue to 18th Street and on towards town. After crossing 10th Avenue, the tracks ran parallel to the Southern Railway and went down Linwood Boulevard past the old Claflin School to 5th Avenue. Taking a left then a right onto 15th Street, the line finally returned to Broad.

A contract of June 23, 1932, between the city of Columbus and the Georgia Power Company subsidiary, the Columbus Transportation Company, called for abandonment of all remaining streetcar lines in the city except for the North Highlands line, with buses taking over all former streetcar routes. By July 1st, the East Highlands line and the remaining lines below 9th Street were a thing of the past. Some track was left in place in the southern part of the city due to the difficulty in having it removed. All others, however, were immediately taken up. Any electric poles still standing for streetcar services were disposed of.

On July 31, 1934, the city commission of Columbus granted permission to the Georgia Power Company and the Columbus Transportation Company to conduct a 90-day test of the use of buses on the North Highlands streetcar line. The test came about as a result of requests by the companies to the commission and also by petitions received bearing between 500 and 600 signatures of people living in the area served. The cars and lines were to be kept in good condition, and if the bus service was found to be unsatisfactory, streetcars would resume their schedule.

At the end of the test period the people of North Highlands and Bibb City were satisfied with the replacement. The morning of Sunday, August 5, 1934, saw the end of the life of streetcars in Columbus.

The final farewell to the streetcar era in Columbus came with the razing of the transfer station in May 1941. In that year a permit was granted to the Williams Lumber Company for the erection of a new one-story structure. Being located on the site of the original station, the new building provided comforts and functions in much the same way as its predecessor did. It is indeed sad that such a structure could not have been spared, since the station that replaced it is now gone also. Today there are few reminders of the once-prominent role streetcars played in the day-to-day life of Columbus. To a lucky few who actually rode them, they are memories.