"I very well remember when the first street railway was built - the horse-drawn cars which were an innovation of which our city was very proud. I have referred to the Fulwider History and found that this was in 1886, when I was just a bit past ten years of age. Since this was four years before Stephenson St. was paved with cedar block the laying of the track was rather simple procedure on this street as well as on the other streets where the cars were to run. The tracks were of strap rails and not like that of the steam railroads. The cross ties were laid about four feet apart, and spiked to these were long four by six inch timbers with the smaller dimension on top. And to these long timbers the rails were attached. I remember that while this work was under way we kids found lots of fun in jumping from one cross-tie to another.

The street-car line extended from well inside of Taylor Park to either West or Whistler St. The cross-town line on Chicago St. went north to Oak place and thence west on Galena Ave. ending, I believe on West St. The south line went to the end of Chicago St. as it then was, turned east onto Williams (now Iroquois) and then south on Carroll St. and I think that at first it ended at South Galena Ave. These street cars were pretty small though quite likely of sufficient capacity for the number of passengers who paid five cents to ride them. Each car was drawn by two horses and later by two mules. The mules were considered to be an offense to the dignity of some of the citizens who were regular patrons of the line. I do not know of any old photographs that show a car in full, but I have one that looks down on one of them, going west at Stephenson and Van Buren Streets, from an upstairs window. This picture with an accompanying story by Olga Gize Carlile was a special feature article in the Journal Standard a few years ago.

There was one thing about the wonderful new horse-cars that has always had a big place in my memory. This was, to me, a small boy, a sad occurrence. The cars first started to run on Thanksgiving Day, and as I've always presumed it to be through the kindness and love of children by Mr. J.B. Taylor, all the children of the city were invited to have a free ride. And poor me, housebound by some minor illness, sat at the window most of the day watching the cars go by loaded with happy children. It was one of the saddest days of my young life.

The stables and car barns were in Taylor Park, just about where the school now stands. The drivers of the cars stood on the open platform with no protection against the weather. These cars remained in service until the fall of 1894 when the electric trolley cars were put into operation, the first car going up Stephenson St. on a week-day afternoon.

Written by Leslie T. Fargher 1967

Charles Roy Denton

Conductor in Front of Trolley #22,

Crepe Park Run, Freeport, IL. About 1920

Photo contributed by Billie Jo Read

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