Ruins of Jacksonville: The Streetcar System

[Metro Jacksonville]

Ruins of Jacksonville: The Streetcar System



"When we predict that Jacksonville will become the metropolis of the South, it is made upon the favorable surrounding conditions, based upon the history of the past with the corroborating facts of the present."

-1905 Jacksonville City Directory, Publisher's Remarks

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-jul-ruins-of-jacksonville-the-streetcar-system

[archiphreak]

In researching the history of our street car system did you come across a reason for the switch to a bus system?  It seems to me that, with such a robust ridership during the time of the street car system, the city officials would have wanted to continue to expand, modernize and ultimately profit from such a widely used transportation system. 
I'm in awe.  Jacksonville 70 years ago is exactly the kind of city I want to live in today.  It's a shame it all went to waste in such a short time.

[Dog Walker]

The story that I have heard is that Jacksonville was part of a pattern of streetcar line closures that was engineered by General Motors and Firestone.  The tale is that they would form companies that would buy the private streetcar lines, then close the lines and replace them with buses (made by GM, running on tires made by Firestone) with great publicity about the modernity and flexibility.

Don't know if this was true for Jacksonville, but am sure that it was for other cities.

Ock, can you give us the "true" history?

[Doctor_K]

The transition to buses and away from rail-based transit was a nationwide phenomenon that took place at around the same time as our abandonment of streetcars.  I can't recall specifics, but it was definitely not an isolated event. 

Something about transitioning to the ultra-modern conveniences of a bus, that wasn't limited to tracks, etc.
Definitely was a widespread push/transition.

**EDIT**  Right on, Dog Walker.


Great photo/history tour.  Thanks MetroJacksonville!

[Jason]

Absolutely fantastic article!!   Seriously, one of the most interesting aspects of Jacksonville history also one of the least talked about.

Great work!

[thelakelander]

In researching the history of our street car system did you come across a reason for the switch to a bus system?  It seems to me that, with such a robust ridership during the time of the street car system, the city officials would have wanted to continue to expand, modernize and ultimately profit from such a widely used transportation system. 
I'm in awe.  Jacksonville 70 years ago is exactly the kind of city I want to live in today.  It's a shame it all went to waste in such a short time.

GM bought out the system and replaced it with buses, manufactured by them.  I'm sure Ock has an old Jax article about this situation in his possession somewhere.  Here is a paragraph explaining how things went down in Alabama around the same time.

If you're interested in public transportation â€" and you should be, whether you're concerned about economic development, pollution and fossil-fuel dependency or just hate sitting in traffic â€" it's important to know the hidden history of public transportation in Alabama.

The City of Montgomery established the nation's first citywide electric trolley system in 1886, and by 1908 the city of 40,000 boasted 80 streetcars covering 42 miles of rail. It may come as a shock to someone driving during Birmingham's rush hours that 93 million riders used Birmingham's public transit system in 1948. How did Alabama cities abandon their progressive embrace of public transit and the common good?

The automobile and the electric streetcar began to flourish at roughly the same time. However, it was the private automobile, not the public streetcar, that got hefty doses of taxpayer money â€" a strangely familiar notion in the era of federal bailouts for Detroit automakers.

And Alabama played a part in the story.

In 1920, National City Lines Inc. opened for business with two second-hand buses in Minnesota. By the end of World War II, the company controlled public transit in more than 80 cities. Its inner circle of investors resembles a Who's Who of highway transportation â€" General Motors, Greyhound, Standard Oil, Firestone and numerous GM parts suppliers.

As this trend swept the nation, Alabama Power, which owned the electrified Montgomery trolleys as a utility, decided it no longer wanted an ownership stake. Within the calendar year of 1936, the system was transferred to National City Lines and converted to bus service. Tracks were pulled up in Montgomery and around the state.

In 1949, a federal grand jury indicted General Motors for criminal conspiracy for destroying the efficient public trolleys in Los Angeles. By 1950, GM had converted more than 100 electric streetcar systems to gasoline-powered buses. The triumph of internal combustion was complete.

http://www.annistonstar.com/pages/full_story_golf/push?article-Alabama-s+on+an+outdated+path-+State-s+stimulus+transit+funding+is+headed+in+wrong+direction%20&id=2677022-Alabama-s+on+an+outdated+path-+State-s+stimulus+transit+funding+is+headed+in+wrong+direction&instance=1st_left

[TPC]

Great article, as I was reading I was curious about the switch from streetcars to busses as well. I've heard that GM and Firestone pushed for busses as well and it seems quite believable.

[GideonGlib]

Wow, how amazing would it be if even half of that system was still in place.

[fsujax]

Great pictures. I hope that someday soon we can at least have some sort of starter line.

[Lunican]

Here is another good article about the Los Angeles, San Jose, and San Diego systems.

The Alameda in San Jose crossing underneath SP in 1937. The trolley wire supports on the bridge can be seen to this day.

Streetcars provided pollution free, comfortable transportation without receiving any government subsidy. Unfortunately for transit patrons, and all who desire clean air, the competition between transportation competitors was not a fair one.

The destruction of transit in the East Bay and across the Bay Bridge was, unfortunately, typical for California's other large metropolitan areas. The only large city in California where GM did not destroy the transit system was San Francisco. This was because it was not able to do a takeover: San Francisco's transit system was owned by the City. Of course, GM was savvy enough to not directly buy these transit systems. They used "front" companies, funneling the money through them, and when they achieved control, it was the end for the transit system. All without the public's knowledge.

California transit systems destroyed by GM included those in the East Bay, San Jose, Fresno, Stockton, Sacramento, San Diego and the biggest, Los Angeles. There were probably more, but I can prove these from records.

San Jose

What about the San Jose streetcar system? GM has admitted to making an "investment ... in Pacific City Lines beginning in 1938 ..." [in GM's report "The Truth About American Ground Transport," page 21]. San Jose Railroads became a subsidiary of Pacific City Lines [Moody's Manuals]. The streetcar service was discontinued on April 10, 1938.

Hostile takeover attempt of the Key System in 1941

Harre Demoro of the San Francisco Chronicle writes [in his book The Key Route] : "Pacific City Lines was headquartered in Oakland and specialized in acquiring smaller transit systems and converting them from rail to bus. The Key System was among its largest targets at the time [January, 1941], and [Key System president] Lundberg moved quickly to avert a takeover." This 1941 takeover attempt was only made publicly known at a PUC hearing in 1955, because the request by the Key System (GM-controlled) attorney to delete it from the public record was denied. The Key System was not so lucky in 1946.
The Key System takeover in 1946

General Motors has admitted to making "investments" in National City Lines in 1939 and other years (which they didn't all list). This "front" company, National City Lines, acquired 64% of the stock of the Key System (officially the Railway Equipment and Realty Company) in 1946. The destruction of this transit system is detailed in previous pages.

Los Angeles metropolitan area

The Los Angeles system consisted of two companies, Los Angeles Railway, with 1042 yellow streetcars, and Pacific Electric, with 437 red electric cars. At least one line was quad tracked for express train service. Pacific Electric had a subway thru downtown Los Angeles. [Figures from PUC Special Study TR-23, 1944].

General Motors has admitted that "GM made ... investments in American City Lines in 1943." Soon, American City Lines was buying stock in Los Angeles Railway. By May 1, 1945, they owned 59% of the outstanding stock. The same month, the Los Angeles Railway announced plans to scrap most of the streetcar lines [Source: Moody's]. Pacific Electric was acquired in 1953. By then, a number of lines had already been acquired and destroyed via Pacific City Lines [Source: Hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly: American Ground Transport, 1974]. The Hollywood Blvd. line was destroyed in 1954 and the Glendale-Burbank line in 1955, both using the subway under downtown LA.

Kerosene was poured on the streetcars and electric trains and they were burned, except a few placed in museums. Nothing was left of the transit system which had comprised 1479 streetcars and train cars. There were also trolley buses by LA Railway.

San Diego

On March 12, 1949, General Motors was convicted for monopoly and violating antitrust laws by a federal court. It was fined merely $5000. The fine was not enough to dissuade GM, because the destructions continued using more elaborate "fronts." For example, the selling of the San Diego streetcar system in 1948 (when GM was under indictment), with 104 streetcars, was "to J. L. Haugh, Oakland, for an undisclosed amount" [Moody's Public Utilities Manuals]. Who is this person? The Key System president installed by GM! Previous to that, he was an executive at Pacific City Lines. San Diego's streetcars, which were the new PCC type - still being used to this day in San Francisco - were scrapped in 1949.

That's not all for J. L. Haugh. In 1953, Jesse L. Haugh "acquired" the Pacific Electric. The real financiers of the takeover were again hidden from the public at the time, but became known later by congressional investigation.
Investors plundered, taxpayers burdened

The last year that dividends were paid on Key System stock was in 1947. This meant that the owners of the Key System stock who were not automobile interests, and who owned 36% of the stock, were, in effect, plundered. Stockholders of the Los Angeles Railway, 41% of which was not owned by automobile interests, were also plundered.

It also meant that what was once a private company, making profit and paying taxes, eventually became both government owned and government subsidized, after GM destroyed both its efficiency and its customer base. This process was repeated in other of GM's transit operations in California. The transit companies also had owned much of the property under their tracks, and paid property taxes which roads never paid.

Taxpayers to this day are burdened with subsidizing bus systems. To a much greater extent, they are burdened with subsidizing automobiles whose numbers are far greater than if the electric systems - with streetcars, trains and trolly buses - had remained intact.

http://www.trainweb.org/mts/ctc/ctc06.html

[jason_contentdg]

Jacksonville 70 years ago is exactly the kind of city I want to live in today.  It's a shame it all went to waste in such a short time.

It certainly was a more bustling and exciting time for downtown in any image that I've seen of that era.  It's an uneasy feeling that the City seems to dislike anything from that era, from the buildings, to the streetcars....  

[b real]

This article is very inspiring. To have the evidence that our city was once a lively place to be is amazing. I hope to think that within time we will have our city back. Having a site like Metro Jax is what gets those that don't have the vision to start looking outside the box for answers. Awesome post. And I also want to live in a city like Jacksonville once was.....I don't want to move to find it!

[Ocklawaha]

Nice job Lake. I've tossed in a quote from the APTA that paints the benefits and function of a streetcar operation.

American Public Transportation Association

In a town or downtown setting, streetcars do many things. Obviously, they provide mobility, without the automobile and in a way that is friendly to pedestrians. In addition, they bring development and channel it where it is wanted. They attract tourists. They let people who use transit to get to town move around in the downtown (in transit language, the "distributor" function), or, in Traditional Neighborhood Design residential areas, they pick people up from near their homes and take them to the commuter rail or Light Rail line (the "collector" function) to go into the city. They bring new people to transit; as San Francisco Municipal Railway General Manager Michaelt. Burns said, "People who wouldn't ride a bus will ride a streetcar." 1 And, perhaps most important, streetcars say, "This town, this downtown, is here to stay. It's not going to go down hill again." George Sanborn, reference librarian of the Massachusetts State Transportation Library, put it well. "Every city's streetcars were different. When the streetcars went away, so did the flavor of that city." 2 Bringing back the streetcars puts back the flavor our cities and towns have lost, and tells the world that it is not going to go away again.

In their heyday, (streetcars) were machines that generated affection, combining power and modesty. They were real trains but without the noise and smoke; they went over high bridges and quietly down tree-lined streets, across wide distances, into bustling downtowns -- yet for all their modern power and range, you could catch them on your own street corner. The future of the trolley may depend on certain memories, of that swaying and quiet clicking, the arrival heralded by a familiar bell.

The demise of our streetcars were indeed connected to "The Great Streetcar Holocaust," which was engineered by 4 major players. General Motors, Standard Oil, Phillips Petroleum and Firestone all conspired to kill the traction companies nationwide. Our system was one of the early victims of this plot which started with Motor Transit Company, which was owned by National City Lines, which was owned by the conspirators.

Many streetcar and interurban (LRT) lines were owned by utility companies, and the highway lobby donated huge sums to make sure the big dog utilities got divided from the transportation firms. Just before Jacksonville Traction Company vanished forever, The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, an antitrust law was passed to sweep away any financial backing the streetcar companies still had. It was all downhill after the passage of that act.  

[stjr]

Great article and pictures.  Jax, with from about 1/20th to 1/10th its current metro population, looked like a much more cosmopolitan and vibrant city than anything around today.

I think this article also shows the importance of a downtown in establishing the identify and cultural footprint of a metro area.   The downtown of old was what really put Jax on the map in the minds of the world at large.  And it had many distinctive and unique buildings, that when you saw them, you knew they said "Jacksonville".  Our destruction of these buildings and overall failure to create new ones on par with them has left the City stripped of much of what made this uniquely "Jacksonville" and nowhere else.  Certainly, a sanitized and nondescript suburbia built by tract builders makes no distinct or lasting impression, creates no identity, and could be a suburb of most any city in America.

The removal of streetcars shows what happens when a community takes a short sighted view and sells itself out to the money interests and developers for the quick "economic growth" so many of our citizens are always looking for at the expense of our quality of life.   Let's sell out our beaches for offshore drilling, our rural and forrested lands for outer beltways, our parks for lower taxes, mass transit and pedestrian friendly avenues for wider, faster roads, historic structures for more parking or "new" office boxes, our cultural and educational institutions for a few pennies in tax savings, etc.  Our society, stripped of all these quality of life building blocks is left with what?  A forgettable, flavorless, mass produced, devoid of character, boring, day to day grinding existence?

[Southbanker]

Amazing...what a cool city we used to be!