Willimantic's Effort to get a Trolley - Part 1 by Pete Zizka 3-18-2023

A little over a year ago, I completed a series of articles dealing with several of Willimantic’s public buildings and as I did research for these stories, I found myself thinking, over and over, that nothing ever came easily for Willimantic. Oftentimes the reason was because of bickering among various groups or because of estimated cost of projects or simply location. Recently though, as I’ve worked on these articles regarding trolleys, the problems associated with all the other projects paled. Getting trolley service from Willimantic to Baltic and then to Coventry was an excruciatingly difficult process. It became painful just to write about all the problems, roadblocks, charter proposals, permissions, hearings, delays and other difficulties that had to be overcome in order to bring the trolley dream to fruition. Hopefully, the reading of these articles will not be as painful. Before getting into the background history, it may be helpful to have a quick overview. When the Willimantic trolley system was finally completed, it consisted of three sections built at different times. The building of each section required an enormous number of public hearings and various other governmental hoops through which the promoters had to jump. Delays were more common than periods of construction work. The Willimantic-Baltic section opened in 1903 but the Willimantic-Coventry section did not open until 1909. That being said, let’s look at the history.  In 1893, Willimantic segued from being a borough of the Town of Windham to being an incorporated city. In that same year, some forward looking citizens, namely General E.S. Boss, Oliver Risley, John Griffin Martin and John Hall, obtained from the State Legislature a charter allowing them to form “The Willimantic Street Railway Company”. The charter was good for two years and allowed the principals to organize and to “gather such other persons as they might associate with them”. The Legislature’s 1895 session extended the charter for two more years. In October, 1896, a group “representing a syndicate of capitalists” came to town, supposedly to negotiate for the company’s franchise which covered the “principal highways and streets extending from the northerly end of the village of South Coventry”, through Willimantic and then through Windham to Franklin and Baltic. But nothing came of the negotiations, and so the company found itself before the 1897 Legislature and once again asking for an extension. Willimantic’s citizens were not happy about the delays and so in March, 1897, a joint session of the City’s Common Council met to hear what people had to say. What they wanted was for the latest legislative extension of the charter to include a provision that, “required the road to be in operation within two years”. There were other concerns. Primary among them was the fact that a private company, The Willimantic Street Railway, wanted to make a profit by using the public streets. It had also been rumored that Mr. Risley had told at least one person, a Mister Albert Gurley, that the company wanted the charter for their own personal advantage and only for the purpose of selling it. The general sentiment was that “it would be better not to have a street railway for the next two years than to grant the charter to private individuals”. However, Attorney Walter Bennett said that the original four men who obtained the charter in 1893, “exhibited more enterprise than any other four men in Willimantic had ever dared to exhibit”. Then, Windham historian Allen B. Lincoln said that while he believed “street railways” should be built with private capital, the public should receive something for the privilege of using public streets. Local physician-surgeon-druggist, Dr. Adelard David was probably best at summing up local sentiment – that people were anxious for a street railway and wanted some assurance that it would be built within the next two years. Attorney Bennett then spoke again and said he believed that the City should have the right to fix the prices which the company should pay for the use of public streets. He also said that the men who obtained the charter “had an interest in the city…and could be relied upon to do the best for the city and its inhabitants”. (to be continued) Today’s photo shows crowds waiting for the trolley at South Windham’s Camp Station. click on photo for larger version

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