Trolley car documentary
recalls trips to Lincoln Park
By Robert Barboza
Special Writer
DARTMOUTH – Once upon a time, thousands of area residents would climb aboard the electric trolley cars running from Fall River and New Bedford each weekend and take leisurely rides out to the countryside to visit the region’s premier recreational attraction, Lincoln Park.
Few local residents remember such trolley car excursions, as the last run to Lincoln Park took place more than 70 years ago, when the growing popularity of private cars and public bus lines put the trolley lines out of business. All that remain of that once-popular mode of transportation is the grassy median strip in the center of double-barreled State Road, where the rails that used to guide the trolleys beneath the overhead electric lines were once located.
Dartmouth historian Paul Levasseur recently revived those almost-forgotten memories of the heyday of local trolley lines with a screening of his 2011 documentary, Trolley Cars of Dartmouth, for about 30 guests of the Dartmouth Historical & Arts Society.
Before the movie, Levasseur, who specializes in historic modes of transportation, spent a half hour detailing the rise and fall of the trolley cars used in this area. The pre-show lecture started with the introduction of horse-drawn trolleys in the middle of the 1800s, used to carry passengers departing trains on the outskirts of New Bedford to the downtown hotels and businesses, and the waterfront where visitors could make connections to the steamships that would carry them to Martha’s Vineyard and the Elizabethan Islands.
It didn’t take long before the growing numbers of visitors prompted the laying of steel tracks under electric power lines running from the Pearl Street rail station to the center of the city around 1870, and the introduction of trolley cars powered by electric motors, the historian said.
recalls trips to Lincoln Park
By Robert Barboza
Special Writer
DARTMOUTH – Once upon a time, thousands of area residents would climb aboard the electric trolley cars running from Fall River and New Bedford each weekend and take leisurely rides out to the countryside to visit the region’s premier recreational attraction, Lincoln Park.
Few local residents remember such trolley car excursions, as the last run to Lincoln Park took place more than 70 years ago, when the growing popularity of private cars and public bus lines put the trolley lines out of business. All that remain of that once-popular mode of transportation is the grassy median strip in the center of double-barreled State Road, where the rails that used to guide the trolleys beneath the overhead electric lines were once located.
Dartmouth historian Paul Levasseur recently revived those almost-forgotten memories of the heyday of local trolley lines with a screening of his 2011 documentary, Trolley Cars of Dartmouth, for about 30 guests of the Dartmouth Historical & Arts Society.
Before the movie, Levasseur, who specializes in historic modes of transportation, spent a half hour detailing the rise and fall of the trolley cars used in this area. The pre-show lecture started with the introduction of horse-drawn trolleys in the middle of the 1800s, used to carry passengers departing trains on the outskirts of New Bedford to the downtown hotels and businesses, and the waterfront where visitors could make connections to the steamships that would carry them to Martha’s Vineyard and the Elizabethan Islands.
It didn’t take long before the growing numbers of visitors prompted the laying of steel tracks under electric power lines running from the Pearl Street rail station to the center of the city around 1870, and the introduction of trolley cars powered by electric motors, the historian said.
Levasseur noted that the term “trolley car” came from the brass pulley which connected the steel-wheeled carriages to the electric lines that powered its electric engines. Soon, a branch line ran over the Acushnet River to Fairhaven, and the street railway network kept expanding over the years, providing transportation both for local workers and visiting tourists.
Eventually, the rail lines were built throughout the city, and then out into the suburbs; one line from the west end of the city was extended to carry folks to the cemetery just over the Dartmouth line, and on to Smith Mills. The trolley line was extended all the way to Fall River in 1894.
Another trolley line in the south end of the city was extended in 1898, going past Bliss Corner and into South Dartmouth, ending at the yacht club on Elm Street in Padanaram. That line continued service until 1935, when the trolleys were replaced by buses.
By the turn of the century, local trolley lines were providing service to Fall River, and allowed residents access to the railway and steamship lines running to Newport, Providence, Boston and New York. The Dartmouth and Westport Street Railway would carry passengers, mail bags, and commercial freight between the two cities until 1933, Levasseur reported.
DARTMOUTH & WESTPORT LINES
The 45-minute documentary aired after his introductory remarks focused for the most part on the trolley lines that served Dartmouth and Westport. Before Lincoln Park was developed, the Westport Factory complex off State Road in North Westport was a regular stop on the Dartmouth line, bringing dozens of factory workers to the mill complex every workday.
Then some street railway executive had the bright idea that the new line through Dartmouth could be made more profitable by promoting weekend excursions into the countryside for city dwellers. The company bought a large piece of woodland on State Road near the Westport line in 1894, and named the picnic grove Lincoln Park, Levasseur’s film narration explained.
The little picnic spot grew so popular that more and more amenities were added over the years, and a second trolley line had to be added. When the state got around to expanding State Road to two lanes in both directions, the trolley lines ran down the median strip of the busy highway.
Still photographs incorporated into the film presentation showed hundreds of visitors disembarking the trolleys on weekend visits. Eventually, trains of up to five large trolley cars – both open and closed carriages – were carrying thousands of folks from Fall River, New Bedford, and points beyond every weekend to what would become the region’s biggest amusement park, with its own trolley station and car barn.
But within a few decades, the growing popularity of the automobile contributed to the slow decline of the trolley car business. Buses became a more convenient form of transportation for the masses, and began replacing the electric trolleys in many places in the 1930s.
The trolley cars running out to Lincoln Park remained in limited service for another 15 years, the film reported. The streetcar line became less and less profitable, however, and “the last trolley to Lincoln Park ran on Sunday, April 28, 1946,” Levasseur said.
The film ended with Levasseur’s 2010 interview with the late Steven Howland, one of the last motormen to work for the Union Street Railway Company before it stopped all trolley car operations in 1947. Then, the Dartmouth resident switched to driving buses for the company.
The local bus company sold most of its trolleys to a New York company, and a few ended up in trolley car museums in Connecticut or Maine, Levasseur noted.
The final scenes in the documentary brought the story line back to New Bedford, where rare 35 millimeter film footage from the early 1900s showed some of the first electric trolleys fighting horse-drawn carriages and primitive motorcars for a piece of the narrow city streets.
Those days are gone forever, but thanks to Levasseur’s years of research and fine documentary film, the memories of those days gone by live on today, and are preserved for the next generations to come.
Watch the full presentation in the studio section on the contents page
