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 .
click on photo for larger version
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