Quincy’s Electric Street Cars

Quincy had some form of trolley
transportation beginning in 1865 when the line began at about Fifth and Maine
and went north for over a mile to Locust, and by 1869 a branch went east on
Maine Street to the fairgrounds at 30th and Maine. By 1879
additional lines reached near Woodland Cemetery on South 5th and
were inching along State Street and Broadway. Sixty Missouri Mules provided
locomotion to the fifteen cars in service and the jingling of bells on their
harness provided notice of their impending arrival. The drivers carried long
whips to encourage the mules, but according to the Daily Herald of December
1905, “…not infrequently the mules would break loose and run away, delaying traffic
and inconveniencing passengers.”

In 1889 the Daily Whig reported
that a deputation from Quincy went to Peoria to inspect their newfangled
electric street car system with a mind to install one in our town. They saw a
Thomas-Houston system of double ended cars which were powered by overhead wires
and electric tracks. The car had a spring mounted arm which reached up to an
electric wire running down the center of the street at a height of eighteen and
a half feet. This center wire was held
in place by cross wires from poles planted every 115 feet on each side of the
street. It was noted that the poles and
wires offer no obstruction and “…strike the observer favorable rather than
unfavorably.” To complete the circuit, underground wires carried electricity to
the rails. A crank supplied the power and a separate brake lever stopped the
cars. Peoria ordinance mandated a six mile per hour speed limit, although the
cars were said to have a maximum speed of forty miles an hour on the flat.

It was a great day in Quincy on
January 1, 1891 when the first electric street car was put into service, albeit
with mixed results. News of the trial run reached the public who thronged the
streets to witness this wonder, and they were not disappointed. The first car
carried street car company officials around Washington Park at 5th
and Maine at a sedate speed due to the crowds in the streets and walking
alongside. Farther down Maine where the tracks were clearer, speed increased
and flashing electric sparks of red and green occasionally flew from the wheels
frightening horses and delighting spectators.

City streets at this era were
cleaned twice a year and horses and mule droppings and dirt and dust and debris
were common. These hazards were easily
handled by pedestrians and other horses and mules, but electric car tracks were
not as forgiving. Accumulated dirt would break the circuit, bringing the cars
to a halt until the motorman and conductor exited the car and swept it away.
This process was repeated over and over again on the first days of operation.
Eventually street conditions improved.

Hills could also prove a problem,
especially a large one on Broadway before it was leveled. The streetcar would
provide an exciting run down the hill, but sometimes burned out a bearing trying
to climb back up. In that case, it would have to be rescued, pulled up to the
top and towed in for repairs to the garage at 20th and Maine. Ice
and especially sleet caused other problems and often required the tracks to be
sanded for additional traction.

The fare of five cents was
collected by a conductor who walked the middle of the car which was open to the
weather, and it was necessary to attract his attention when you wished the car
to halt at a certain stop. This was sometimes difficult to do, and in the case
of winter weather the car was apt to slide past the desired stop if the rails
were icy. By 1895 improvements were made to the cars in the form of hard coal
stoves to replace the little electric ones that often burned out as well as
electric push buttons mounted below the windows to signal a desired stop.

In 1901 the city found it necessary to address
a problem with the many and various type of poles along the city streets, and
passed Ordinance 2. It read, in part, “…no person shall paste, stick up, paint,
brand or stamp, or in any manner whatsoever put upon any tree, or tree-box, or
telegraph, telephone, electric light or electric street car pole, or post,
situated in any public place in this city any written, printed, or painted, or
other advertisement, bill, notice, sign, card, or poster.” Fines were set at a minimum of three dollars,
with a maximum fee of twenty.

Travel by street car was far from
safe and accident free. Injuries could happen when people attempted to jump on
or off the early model cars while they were moving. Later enclosed cars that could only be
boarded or exited by a door controlled by the operator solved most of this
problem. There were accidents when the sparks thrown by the wheels and bearings
frightened horse or mule teams on the street.
Car and Auto accidents increased as more cars joined traffic. Sometimes
the street car couldn’t stop in time, but others the fault was with the auto.
In 1912 Harry O. Channon, driving his daughter
along Spring Street hear Twentieth failed to stop and plowed into a
street car travelling south on Twentieth. The streetcar was knocked off the
tracks, and the auto “suffered a slight fracture of the fenders, but was able
to proceed downtown under its own power,” according to the Daily Journal, Oct.
7, 1912. It was duly noted that, had the street car been full to capacity, it
likely would have held the track and the auto been more severely damaged.

Travel on Quincy’s streets was an
adventure.

Sources

“Auto Makes Street Car Take the Count,”

Quincy Daily Journal

, October 7, 1912.

“Electric Street Cars,”

Quincy
Daily Whig

, October 29, 1880.

“Ordinance No. 2,”

Quincy
Daily Whig

, February 3, 1901.

“Presents for Old Employes (sic),”

Quincy
Daily Herald

, Dec. 5, 1905.

“Street Cars on the Slide,”

Quincy Daily Herald

, February 13, 1910.

“Superb Improvements for Our Street Cars,”

Quincy Daily Journal

, December 5, 1895.

“The Streetcar System,” Pg. 83,

Historical Sketches of Quincy Illinois

, Carl Landrum, Historical
Society of Quincy
and Adams County, Il.

“The Old Reporter Lights His Pipe, Quincy Daily Herald, July
20, 1917