The Memphis Street Railway Company was a privately owned operator of
streetcars (trams) and
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es in
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...
on roughly 160 route miles of overhead electrified cable and rails between 1895 and 1960. The longest of the rail lines reached from downtown to
Memphis National Cemetery
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memphis ...
near
Raleigh
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
.
History
The Memphis Street Railway was created in March 1895 through the merger of several smaller systems including the
Memphis & Raleigh Springs Railroad,
East End Street Railway,
Citizens Street Railroad and
City & Suburban Railway. In 1890, when The Citizens Street Railroad of Memphis, Tenn., suffered a financial setback, Mr. Albert Merritt Billings of Chicago, bought the company for over $2,000,000. Billings placed electric power on the roads and the company became a great success. Billings recruited Mr. Frank G. Jones from Iowa to operate the company as vice-president.
[http://register.shelby.tn.us/imgView.php?imgtype=pdf&id=26wth313.tif] At its peak the interurban operated nearly 77 miles of trackage, 51 one of which was double-track. Service lasted until the 1940s when operations were abandoned in favor of buses.
Service
Memphis, then only 44 square miles (smaller than
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
), could be traversed easily with frequent service to within blocks of any corner in the city. Fares included a free transfer.
Lines of Memphis Street Railway Co.
1 Normal
2 Fair Grounds
3 Raleigh-Macon Road
6 Lamar
rolleybusbr />
7 Crosstown
8 Elmwood
9 Glenview
11 Wellington
12 Florida
14 Second-Desoto Park
15 Jackson
16 Lane-Faxon
17 Forest-Hill
19 Walker Av
Transition
Streetcars remained in use until 1947 when electric trolleybuses (trackless trolleys) were phased in fully. Trolleybuses were discontinued in use for
diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...
buses by 1960. In 1961, The City of Memphis Transit Authority, the agency that would later become
MATA in 1975, took over and became publicly owned.
Lawsuits
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s successfully sued the Memphis Street Railway Company for
personal injury and racial insult. African American working-class men and women were often financially compensated for physical injuries, while African American middle-class women won their lawsuits against white conductors who insulted their personal dignity.
Today
The formerly major intersection at Main St and Madison Ave of the Main St and Fair Grounds lines are returned to service by the now-public descendant agency’s
Main Street and Madison Avenue Trolleys.
References
{{Reflist
Transportation in Memphis, Tennessee