"From Mules to Buses"

Condensed from an article by Clifton E. Hull

Capitol Transportation Company Little Rock, Arkansas

In 1870 there were about 12,000 persons living in Little Rock. The devastation following the Civil War was beginning to dissipate. The area was feeling the pangs of rebirth. Personal affluence was appearing gradually. Fine homes were growing more numerous south and east of the business heart of the city. Sidewalks were conspicuous by their absence, and the street surface left much to be desired. The wealthier residents began to sense an assault upon their dignity from having to walk farther and farther to their businesses or employment. The citizens of the principal city of the state, especially with their elevated standard of living, felt they deserved something better than walking through dust, or mud, to, in, and from "downtown."

It was under these conditions that a city franchise was given to the Little Rock Street Railway Company on June 17, 1870. It was agreed that the motive power for the cars could be either horse or mule. Also, rails could be laid on any street in the city, so long as one-half mile of track was completed within three years. Financing probably derailed the company. No more was heard of it.

In May, 1873, the Little Rock Railway Company asked the city officials for a franchise to build a horse-car line out West Markham Street from Main Street to the new train depot of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, and Southern Railroad (the present Missouri Pacific Lines) at Victory Street. As city fathers often do, they did nothing. The franchise request was left on the table.

Another Little Rock Street Railway Company was formed on August 11, 1876. This one "faded before it bloomed." So did two other franchise requests that year.

The following year, 1877, the city officials finally decided the time had come to make a serious effort to provide public transportation for the city. Service would be limited to only four streets – Markham, Second, Main, and Louisiana Streets. On January 30, 1877, the city council passed an ordinance to execute a contract with a responsible company. On February 1, 1877, the Citizens Street Railway Company was formed. The streets where right of way would be granted were Main Street and Center Street, as well as Second Street from the cotton oil mill at Sherman to Rector Avenue, then north to Markham, west to Cross, north to Water Street and west to the Iron Mountain depot.

May 29, 1877, was a day of celebration, and the citizens of Little Rock were justifiably proud. Everybody was given a free ride on the city’s first streetcar. The rails had been laid on Main Street and the diminutive four-wheel bobber car rolled smoothly behind a patiently plodding, long-eared mule. The little cars could seat about a dozen passengers on hard, un-padded seats. In less than six months there were four little cars in operation. Rails were laid south on Main to Alexander Park at Seventeenth Street. By January 29, 1878, the cars were running all the way to the train depot on West Markham. Stables were located at Seventeenth and Main, adjacent to the park, and at Ninth and Ringo Streets.

Competition arrived in 1884, when the Little Rock Street Railway Company was formed. This company received a city franchise and quickly built four horse-car lines.

In December 1887, the city granted a franchise to the City Electric Street Railway Company. The city granted this firm a right of way on nearly every street in the city not already occupied by the horse-car lines. The company proposed a radical departure from the usual method of operation - its cars would be propelled by electricity, steam, cable or any other approved source of power. There was not even one mention of the capable, economical, and dependant mule. They finally decided to use a type of steam locomotive. Since there were many horses, as well as mules, in use in the city on the other two transit lines, a special steam engine was required. To make the steamers more acceptable to the horse population, the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia developed a small four-wheel vehicle called a "Dummy." It was encased in a wooden body made to resemble an ordinary streetcar, to which the mules and horses were accustomed. It worked.

Two of these "dummies" were obtained and were numbered 1 and 2. Each engine was given an open-sided trailer car that would hold 40 passengers. The first trial run was scheduled for July 3, 1888. The starting point would be at the terminal at Second and Spring Streets. At 2:30 p.m., steam dummy No.1 headed south on Spring. Dummy No. 2 was close behind. When everything was in good order, the run would be made in 15 minutes. The line ended adjacent to West End Park, on Park Avenue at Fourteenth, which was owned by the City Electric Street Railway Company.

Two years later, on March 3, 1891, a newcomer showed up when the Capitol Street Railway Company was formed, and within a month had absorbed the steam and horse-car lines. On February 16, 1891, the firm received permission to change its cars to electrical power. Then in March 1891, the company was reorganized and assumed a previous name - City Electric Street Railway Company. At this time the company had 22 miles of streetcar line, 45 cars, and 308 mules and horses. Twenty cars were kept as trailers, and the others – along with all the livestock – were sold. The last horse-car operated in Little Rock on Sunday, November 22, 1891. At the time 28 new electric cars appeared. On November 24, 1891, car No. 55, the first electric streetcar in Little Rock began rolling along Main Street. In 1892 the old "dummy line" was electrified and became known as the South Highland Line.

On June 3, 1895, the Little Rock Traction and Electric Company was incorporated, and it took over all the street railway property in Little Rock. Then on March 17, 1903, the Little Rock Railway and Electric Company took over. By 1910 there were seven car lines in operation to serve the city of Little Rock which had a population of 45,000.

In August 1906, the Argenta Railway Company was incorporated to construct and operate an electric line in Argenta, (now North Little Rock) on the north side of the river. Two car lines were built, one on Main Street, and the other on Washington Avenue. The rickety old Free Bridge prevented a connection with the system in Little Rock, but when the new Main Street Bridge was opened for use on Christmas Day in 1922, the Argenta cars rolled across to meet the Little Rock cars at Markham and Main.

On April 10, 1923, the streetcar lines were taken over by the Arkansas Central Power Company. In 1925, the company purchased eight lightweight, double-end cars from the American Car Company in St. Louis. Two years later they also bought 30 Birney Safety Cars from the same company.

In October 1926, the streetcar lines and power plant were taken over by the Arkansas Power and Light Company who then leased them to the Capitol Transportation Company.

By 1940 private automobiles had put a good sized dent in the streetcar business. Some tracks were being abandoned; streetcars were being scrapped, and some gasoline buses were appearing. Some experts in San Antonio, Texas, decided cities with fewer than 200,000 people didn’t need streetcars. Little Rock had a population of about 80,000, so the cars had to go.

Then on December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the "experts" decided streetcars weren’t so useless after all. The average automobile owner was allowed about three gallons of gasoline a week. This made streetcars look even better. The Capitol Transportation Company found itself caught in the squeeze with a stable of elderly streetcars built between 1898 and 1905. There were 27 newer cars built in 1924 and 1926. Traffic on the cars was crowded on weekdays, but on weekends it was standing room only, when thousands of soldiers from Camp Robinson descended upon the town. When the war began, buses had already taken over three of the six major routes. Since management was anxious to get rid of the streetcars, maintenance on the track and cars was at a minimum. Deteriorating cars sat on storage tracks outside the barn. One by one, the cars were dismantled, rotted wood replaced, mechanical parts rebuilt or replaced, and repainted to become in almost like new condition. By the time the war had ended, almost all of the cars had been rebuilt, which was really amazing considering the condition of the cars before rebuilding, their age, and a lack of parts during the war. The Forty-five old streetcars had served the Country and Little Rock well. Soon buses and trolley coaches would be available again and the company could continue their plan to replace the streetcars.

On September 1, 1947, the fares were raised from six cents, used since 1923, to seven cents. As the fare was increased, gasoline-powered buses were put into service on the Pulaski Heights line. Trackless electric trolley buses were also introduced. On Christmas Day, 1947, the last old streetcar was retired. It ran on the Fair Park and South Highland lines. The modern motor buses and electric coaches served the routes of the former streetcars. On December 26, 1947, electric coaches went into service on the Pulaski Heights and West Ninth Street lines. Trolley coaches started running on the Fair Park line early in 1948. An auction was held to dispose of the old streetcars, with the exception of the eight 400 series cars, which were sold to Mexico City, where they ran for another 10 years. After seventy years of service, the streetcars were gone from the streets of Little Rock.

Epilog

By Fred B. Fillers

In 2004, fifty seven years after the last streetcar ran in the city, Little Rock’s Central Arkansas Transit Authority inaugurated its first new streetcar line called "River Rail". This first line ties Little Rock and North Little Rock together with a bright ribbon of steel rail by crossing the Main Street Bridge spanning the Arkansas River that once had tied it together when the first streetcar crossed the bridge back in 1922. This new line was served by three bright yellow replica streetcars that are very similar to the eight 400 series cars that once ran on the Pulaski Heights Line. The original eight cars were numbered 400 through 407. As a tribute to these eight cars, the new cars were numbered starting with 408 through 410. A second line has recently opened serving the new Clinton Presidential Library and two more cars, numbered 411 and 412 were purchased to serve this line. Many additional lines are in the planning stage. Little Rock has finally learned, as many cities are learning, that streetcars can be very useful in moving people around in our cities. The "age of the streetcar", that was almost dead just a few years ago, is once again being reborn all around the country.