The Willimantic Traction company launched is trolley car system in Willirnantic in 1903, connecting the city of Willimantic to Norwich and New London. The second line was built to Coventry in 1908, but further plans to connect from there to Hartford were halted by the emergence of the automobile. The Willimantic trolley car line was originally 11 miles long, and consisted of a one-mile length that stretched down Main Street from the Willirnantic Cemetery to the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad grade crossing near the junction of Jackson Street. A 10-mile line went from there through to Baltic, where a connection was made to Norwich and points south. It was a profitable and popular line. In the trolley company operated four closed passenger cars, three open cars for summertime use, and its conductors and motormen earned $1.75 a day. The company planned to build a line from Willimantic to Stafford Springs, but it was taken over by a larger concern with an eye on connecting Willimantic and Hartford by  trolley. On Dec. 6, 1905, the Willimantic Traction Company was purchased by the Consolidated Railroad Co., which in 1907 was absorbed by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.  In 1908 the “Consolidated” petitioned the Connecticut railroad  commissioners to extend its  Willimantic trolley line by seven miles from the Willimantic cemetery, through Mansfield, to the southeastern section of Lake  Wangumbaug at Coventry.  The Willimantic-South Coventry trolley car line and Coventry’s Lakeside Park opened for simultaneously for business on August 18, I909. The Lakeside Park, built by the Consolidated Railroad Co. to generate fares, consisted of a grove of chestnut trees, a merry-go-round, a bandstand, refreshment stands, lunch counters, a boat landing, “rustic seats,” and a two-story pavilion containing ice cream parlors, a  bowling alley, and a dance hall.  On opening day, Railroad Commissioner W.O. Seymour and a host of public officials as well as officials of the Connecticut Company arrived in Willimantic and boarded a special car that took them on the run to Lake Wangumbaug and back. South Coventry people were “out in force” awaiting the special car’s arrival and as the car passed through Coventry Village, bells were rung and flags were waved.  The general public’s celebration was held the following week at Lakeside Park. There were several speeches as well as a band concert by Wheeler’s American Band, fireworks, and “many other attractions” The celebrations at the park were marred however, when a section of the dancing pavilion floor collapsed and 16 people were injured.  But the next day and on schedule at 6:15 a.m. the Coventry cars ran every hour until 12:15 a.m. commencing from the railroad crossing in Willimantic. The fare was 10 cents for a one- way trip. The line was tremendously popular, particularly during the summertime. Rose  Dunham, interviewed in 1990  fondly recalled her regular trolley  car trips from Willimantic to  Coventry in the early 1920s.  “Everybody hopped onto the trolley on Saturday night to go to the dances at Coventry, and the boys used to jump on the sides of the car and sway it about. The driver cursed them, and the girls screamed. We also had good times at Coventry Lake on a Sunday where everybody used to go swimming." The trolley-generated good times at Lakeside Park did not last long. The Coventry trolley car could not compete with automobiles, and had to raise fares during World War I. The last trolley car from Coventry to Willimantic ran on Nov. 22, l926, and was  replaced by a motorbus service.  However, despite the trolley lines brief 15-year existence, it generated a great deal of house building along its seven-mile route.  Willimantic’s Main Street trolley line and its link to Baltic remained popular, but it too could not resist the popularity of the automobile, and then lost much ridership during the Depression years. The last trolley car on the Willimantic-Baltic route ran on Nov. 30, 1936, and the lines were removed by a WPA project shortly afterwards. However, the Willimantic Traction Company car barn built in 1903 next to the cemetery remained in use as a city garage until demolished in the late 1980s.This week’s photo shows the last trolley (Car 202) run in Franklin as it heads toward Willimantic at 12:38 PM .

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