Unpublished text by Allison Chandler and Stephen Maguire

The Arkansas Power & Light Company – Pine Bluff, Arkansas

Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the second oldest settlement in the state with a population of 400 in 1850, possessed a street railway which opened service November 4, 1886 as the Citizens Street Railway Co. The builder was Wiley Jones, wealthy Pine Bluff Black, who imported a special type of Mexican mule for the task and Mexican hostlers to care for the mules. By 1888, the system was three and one half miles in length, operated nine cars, using 12 horses and 42 mules. The line was capitalized at $30.000.

A forerunner of the MoPac Lines pushed a northwest-southeast diagonal line through Pine Bluff in the 1870’s. The town also became an important point on the St. Louis Southwestern Rwy. mail line. This railroad crossing made in-town streetcar service vital to care for railroad passengers, other Pine Bluff visitors, and the townspeople.

Pine Bluff’s 1880 population of about 3,500 had nearly tripled to 9,952 citizens by 1890. In 1894, the streetcar company was using 90 mules, 6 horses and 22 horse cars.

Conversion to electricity came in early 1902 under the name of The Citizens Light & Transit Co., and trackage had grown to 7.75 miles.

Pine Bluff’s population total was 17,447 in 1916, and by 1918, her streetcar system was called The Pine Bluff Co. The power station was at Fourth & Ash Streets and the repair shop was at 3rd & Ash, both buildings being on the west edge of the downtown district, not too far from the steam railroad station. Trackage had reached 11 miles. Rolling stock included 21 passenger trolleys and three other cars. The company was also engaged in the electric lighting and power business.

This was cotton country, and the streetcars were helpful in getting workers to the cotton gins. Rice, corn, hay, oats, poultry, dairying, berries, and vegetables, were all grown in the vicinity, and transportation to the various food processing plants were provided by the streetcars. Pine Bluff was also in the soft and hardwood forestry area of Arkansas, which meant sawmills, flooring plants, and furniture factories. The St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt Route) maintained car building and repair shops, which eventually grew to include the building of the entire locomotive. The streetcars were essential in delivering to and picking up from these Pine Bluff plants.

The Pine Bluff streetcar patrons were served by a north-south Main Street car line starting at the Jefferson County Courthouse and going south past the city hall, the Union Railway Station, downtown hotels and on as far as 20th Avenue. Another north-south route further west was along Cherry Street extending as far as 16th Avenue.

For east-west travel there was the long 6th Avenue Line from Hickory Street on through downtown and on to Illinois Street (double-tracked from Cherry to Main Street). Another east-west line began northwest at Bellwood Cemetery, served the Merrill High School and nearby library (both for Black citizens), left Pullen Street and jumped two blocks south to 2nd Avenue where it went through the heart of downtown and ended adjacent to the Cotton Belt Route shops.

In 1924 the fare to ride a Pine Bluff trolley car was six cents. There were 17 passenger cars in service, of which 14 were one-man Birney Safety Cars. The last new car purchase by the company was made in 1925 of two single truck Birneys.

In 1930 the Arkansas power & Light Co., successor to The Pine Bluff Co., purchased three White motor buses of 15 patron capacity to supplement its trolleys, and the following year added another line vehicle.