How Far We Have Come…? Hollywood Rail, 1900

From The Times, November 25, 1900, (The article is entitled, “Pushing Work On Hollywood Line”). It is claimed by friends of the Passenger and Power Company that the placing of this additional line from Hollywood and Oregon Hill down Main Street all the way to Fulton will give the public better facilities not only through the […]

November 25, 2009; 1:10 PM • by Oregon Hill

From The Times, November 25, 1900,

(The article is entitled, “Pushing Work On Hollywood Line”).

It is claimed by friends of the Passenger and Power Company that the placing of this additional line from Hollywood and Oregon Hill down Main Street all the way to Fulton will give the public better facilities not only through the business and residential sections of Main Street, but will enable a great many people who reside in the southwestern part of the city to reach the factories in the lower part of Main and Fulton without changing cars.

General Superintendent Calvin Whiteley, Jr., of the Passenger and Power Company, who is also engineer for the company, stated yesterday that he had been able to considerably increase the service already on both of the lines- Clay Street and Main Street- and that he was now giving on Main Street a four minute schedule, which is increased to a three minute schedule during the busy hours of the early morning and afternoon. He added that on the Clay Street line he was giving a schedule ranging from four to five minutes, according to demands of traffic.

Four minutes! Think about that next time you are stuck at the light at Idlewood and S. Cherry.

I would like to dedicate this post to my friend, Peter Bain, who is no longer teaching at VCU and is now living in Louisiana.