Streetcar+(aka+Trolley)



The Forest Grove Transportation Company operated a local streetcar from 1906-1911. For more information, visit Friends of Historic Forest Grove at the old train station.

1 Research 2 Essays 3 Links 4 Maps 5 Photos ||
 * **Contents**

Research
Using the EGS Collection archives, and other primary and secondary sources, volunteer Jessie Sweeney, MLS, has created the following narrative on the history of our Streetcar:


 * A Street Car Town**

The city of Forest Grove dealt with the inconvenient mile long gap between the central part of town and the Southern Pacific train station for over thirty years before another solution presented itself. It was, in fact, the presence of the railroad that provided the need for Forest Grove to build its own street car service. Discussions regarding an electric street line began in September 1905. The city board and other parties expressed interest in building an electrified street car line from the business part of town to the Southern Pacific depot. In January 1906, the city council granted a franchise to the newly established Forest Grove Transportation Company to “//build and operate a street railway from the SP depot to the business and residence part of the city.//” (1) The ordinance directed by city leaders that month provided that “//construction must commence within 90 days and the line must be in operation in eight months.//”(2) The plan called for the trolley to have a passenger car and a trailer for produce, mail, and other goods.By March, material for the street car began to be delivered to Forest Grove on the Oregon-California line. The project provided many citizens of Forest Grove with work laying the tracks from the depot in a loop through the town of Forest Grove. By the middle of May, newspaper reports gathered that the line was to be ready in early June, provided that everything went according to schedule. However, the project did encounter several setbacks, included a report that wire and other supplies set to come up from San Francisco were destroyed in a fire, resulting in the material having to be shipped from a company in the eastern United States. The Forest Grove Transportation Company engaged a 10-year lease for the lots of the Ward Lumber Company to use as storage barns for the street car. Local ordinances detail the city’s requirements for the project: “…//the line shall be located between the center of the street and the sidewalk, on the east side of the street coming from the depot, on the south side of the street along Pacific Avenue. Construction must commence within 90 days and the line must be in operation in eight months//.”(3) The difficult relationship between The Forest Grove Transportation Company and city leaders continued throughout the duration of the company’s existence. Despite some setbacks, by July 5, 1906 the streetcar was running around the electrified loop in the center of the city. The trolley consisted of one passenger car and a trailer for transporting goods, mail, and the like.

Street cars used electricity which was fed to the car by an attached overhead wire. For operating street-cars there were two different wire systems that were used, either the single-wire system, or a double wire system. The Forest Grove street car used what was known as the single-wire system, which was the universal system of the time.(4) In a single-wire system, in order for the car to operate properly, a ground return system had to conduct electric current “//the track and rail joints had to be 'bonded'...securing a heavy copper cable or wire across each rail joint, and gaining access to the rail joints meant disturbing the street pavement//,” if there was any.(5) In Forest Grove’s situation, the cars could only operate as long as the streets were not paved. Although this setup with the wires was the safer of the two options, there were still situations where the trolley wiring caused trouble on the line, as the following section demonstrates.


 * Troubles with the Trolley**

The town was very excited about their brand new street car, and yet there was trouble with the operation from the very beginning. Just eight days after the car began operating “//the telephone line got crossed with the trolley wire of the new electric car line, thus sending over 550 volts over the telephone wire, burning out the switch and fuse board at Central, setting the office afire in places, and raising havoc with over 500 private phones, starting a blaze in Schultz’s butcher shop,//” as well as another shop near the car where the trolley arm came off the wire attached to the operating rope, bringing the telephone wires in contact with the car’s electricity.(6) It took several days to get the telephone service operational again.

Because the street car was run on electricity, when the city lost power, it also lost operation of the street car. One such instance was recorded in a local newspaper: “//The electric car was forced to stop running last evening and there has been no electric service of any kind today, because of the dearth in wood and coal oil at the powerhouse//.”(7) Another issue to be dealt with was the fact that the streetcar would, at times, jump its track and have to be lifted back up. One such instance in 1906 was reported on in the Forest Grove News Times:

//The street car jumped the track just as it was rounding the curve from Pacific Avenue to 5th Street (now Elm), as it was going down to meet the noon train last Friday (Aug. 17th) and the front end started out toward the fence. It was going slowly so it did not go very far until it stopped. It had to be jacked up to get it back on the track, which caused some delay but no damage resulted.//(8)

Despite the issues, Forest Grove was proud of its street car. Over the first year of operation, business grew steadily. In August of 1907 an article in the Washington County News-Times reported //“…the business has grown steadily until today the passenger car is carrying an average of 200 persons daily. The company has endeavored to do the very best for the traveling public and today Forest Grove is enjoying one of the best and most appreciable conveniences of any city in the state//.”(9)


 * The End of Forest Grove’s Street Car**

Much to the dismay of the citizens of Forest Grove, the street car only lasted five years. Competition from the Oregon Electric, which arrived in Forest Grove at the end of 1908, took customers away from the street car, which no longer had to travel to Carnation in order to get transportation out of town. In addition, cars were starting to become more popular during this time, and early in the year of 1911 the leaders of Forest Grove decided to pave the city streets.This process was perceived to have many advantages to the city and to property owners. “//That residential property will be increased in value where ever hard surface pavement in laid, is the general option on local real estate men//.”(10) Another advantage of paving the streets in the main part of town included keeping the town cleaner by reducing the summer dust and winter mud. By the end of June the street car tracks were being removed, and by July 13th streets were being graded in preparation for paving. Paving commenced on August 24th, 1911 with the project completed by October 12th.

Although cars were one of the main factors leading to the streetcar being taken down, train transportation around Forest Grove and elsewhere continued. Forest Grove citizens continued to use the local interurban for trips further out of town such as the Oregon beaches. These early roads to the coast were rough and impassable by automobiles of this time. The next chapter continues on the Oregon Electric page, which discusses the arrival of the Oregon Electric Railway to Forest Grove and its history.

The need for the Forest Grove streetcar came as a result of creating a solution for the mile-long gap between Forest Grove and Ben Holiday’s Southern Pacific station. In planning the route for his railroad, Holiday required towns to pay a large sum of money, including gifts of land on which to put his railroad, in order for his company to run the line near a town. Forest Grove refused to pay. An article written in a local newspaper shares the view of many citizens of that time: “//When we look at the facts it is easy to see how it was that the West side road was ruined. Holiday and Halsey, in order to build up their town site at Cornelius, refused business at Forest Grove and Hillsboro and McMinnville, where most of the business of the counties had been done…The attempt to concentrate the business at any one point and refusal to accommodate every point was madness//.” (11)


 * Citations**

1. Labbe, John T. //History of Street Cars in Forest Grove// (unpublished archival material). 2. Eric Stewart Collection, //Forest Grove Times//, 1/11/1906 3. Ibid. 4. White, John, “War of the Wires: A Curious Chapter in Street Railroad History," //Technology and Culture//, University of Chicago, 2005, 374-384. 5. Ibid. 6. Washington County News, 7/19/1906 7. Eric Stewart Collection, Washington County News, 12/27/1906 8. Forest Grove Times, 8/23/1906 9. Washington County News-Times, 8/22/1907 10. Eric Stewart Collection, Washington County News, 2/23/1911 11. Washington County Independent, 6/24/1875

Essays

 * The Forest Grove Trolley** (student research paper c. 1960)

"Nestled in among the hills in Northwestern Oregon is the Tualatin Valley. It is a small green valley with forests of evergreens, small creeks wandering over hill and dale, and plenty of rain.

The names of the towns in this valley give somewhat of a picture of the area -- Hillsboro, Timber, Glenwood, Gales Creek, and Forest Grove.

Forest Grove is just a small town going nowhere. At the start of the twentieth century, however, when the logging camps were busy and the lumber mills many, Forest Grove was important.

In those days, board sidewalks were used, sometimes even raised off the street level two or three feet, with steps down to the streets and a few of the stores. The streets were called "corduroy roads" because they were made up of poles and slab wood laid crosswise to the direction of traffic. On one side of these streets were hitching posts and water troughs for horses.

The big stores were "Woods and Caples," and "Baileys," both general stores. Other major stores of the time were Johnson's Livery Barn and the Forest Grove National Bank. The one curiosity in the town at this time, though, was the trolley car system.

Now a trolley car would never have been needed in a small town like Forest Grove if it hadn't been for the unusual circumstances. The Southern Pacific train depot was situated over a mile from the center of town, with the only accommodations or businesses near there being the old Carnation Hotel. Since it would be a long walk to and from town, and because a way was needed to carry the freight to the stores, the trolley got its beginning.

Mr. John Thornberg and Mr. Will Haines, both owners of the Forest Grove light and power plant, and a few others formed the Forest Grove Transportation Company. Mr. Thornberg was part owner of the Forest Grove National Bank, also, so he was able to put up both money and power to run the trolley.

The trolley car tracks ran from the train depot on Elm Street (near where the Garrigus Lumber Company is today), up the street to Pacific Avenue. There they turned left toward town, and ran up one side of that street to the Oregon Hotel. (A few years ago the Oregon Hotel was torn down and a real estate office and dentist office were built in its place.) From there they turned right on "A" Street, went one block, turned right again on 21st Avenue, went one-half block and then turned back to the tracks on Pacific Avenue. Thus it made a complete circle on that end. But at the train depot end, things were different. Since there were two trolleys--one of people and one of freight--a switch was used. The tracks went both straight toward the Southern Pacific train tracks and curved in front of the train depot. In this way, one trolley could make a run uptown without the other having to go.

The tracks were laid with hand and horse labor only. The route was first cleared and smoothed using horses and 'scrapers.' Scrapers were big, heavy, iron shovels shaped like a modern day grass catcher. The front was sharp and it had handles on the back so it could be guided by one man. Tow or more horses pulled the scrapers, depending on what kind of soil or rock was being scraped.

The rails were laid by hand and the spikes driven in with manpower, too, making a hard and tedious job. The short length of the tracks took several months to complete....the trolley was run by electricity. Wooden poles were spaced a short intervals along the route with long wooden arms hanging out over the tracks. The electric wire was then suspended from the wooden arms. On top of the rod was a pulley which the wire ran through. A rope always hung from the metal rod so that the pulley could be pulled down a ways, swiveled around halfway, and let up to the wire again. Then by putting the trolley in the reverse gear it would go in the opposite direction.

The trolley for people was light yellow, trimmed with orange-red. It was all enclosed, had plenty of glass windows, and ran on eight wheels which made a great deal of noise. Inside were two rows of wooden seats running lengthwise. Each seat was upholstered with black leather and held two or three persons. Unlike the trolleys and buses of today, there were no advertisements on the outside of the Forest Grove Trolleys.

The trolley was run by two men. John Bellinger was both engineer and conductor, because once the trolley was started, no one was needed to keep it running. Frank Bear was the brakeman; anytime anyone "wanted off" they would pull on the cord with rang the bell up front and Frank would stop the trolley.

Both men wore "pretty fancy outfits," according to Fred Mills of Forest Grove. They wore tan woolen pants with a blue stripe down the side, a blue jacket, and a square billed "conductor's cap" which was tan with blue trim.

The trolleys traveled from 15 to 20 miles per hour on the straight-a-ways and had plenty of power to carry full loads. The horses were scared, at first, of the strange moving monster which made funny noises, and many men had to run quiet their horses before they ran off with the family buggy or wagon.

The cost of a ride on the trolley was on nickel and the passengers were issued small, light-orange tickets not unlike modern theater tickets. The electricity used to fail every once in a great while, and then of course the trolley couldn't run. But otherwise, the train arrivals and departures were seldom missed.

As so often happens, though, that which has served us so well is forgotten and laid by the wayside. The Oregon Electric train tracks were run to the middle of Forest Grove, and the Southern Pacific tracks were changed to meet them. There was no need for a trolley then, and both of Forest Grove's workhorses sat unused on their tracks.

No one knows what happened to the two streetcars after that. Perhaps someone bought them for a collection and they stand shiny and well kept for all to see. Perhaps they were allowed to deteriorate in the weather or were torn down with usable parts salvaged. Forest Grove's trolley cars have lived and have died."

Links

 * The Oregon Encyclopedia - Forest Grove streetcar system
 * Portland Trolleys & Streetcars: Streetcars
 * Historic Landmarks Board, City of Forest Grove: Civic Growth, 1900-1950
 * TriMet.org: A History of Public Transit in Portland
 * Washington County Heritage Online: Electric Streetcar ; "Forest Grove Cars Running"

Maps
Maps of the FG Streetcar Route (EGS Collection):



Photos
You will find lots of interesting photos, like the one below, on the history of transportation in Forest Grove at the Washington County Heritage Online website under: transportation.