Mid-20th century saw end of a transportation era

Robert B. Van Atta
Sunday, June 9, 2002 12:00 a.m. | Sunday, June 9, 2002 12:00 a.m.

Fifty years ago, in the summer of 1952, the 62-year history of West Penn Railways trolley operations came to an end in Westmoreland and Fayette counties, although at its peak the streetcar network also functioned in Allegheny and Armstrong counties and the Wheeling area in West Virginia.

Although horse cars had been carrying passengers in Pittsburgh since 1859, what became the West Penn Railways system had its start with actual operations in 1890 in Greensburg, followed that year with local company organizations in Tarentum, Uniontown and McKeesport. In 1891, it expanded to Connellsville and Scottdale.

The process continued through the 1890s, including Kittanning and Ford City in 1897 and Latrobe and Mt. Pleasant in 1899.

As electric railway technology improved, and communities connected lines, the original local lines disappeared through mergers. The sequence of consolidations and expansion climaxed April 23, 1917, with a merger of 13 companies.

These were Brownsville Street Railway; Greensburg & Southern Electric Street Railway; Latrobe-Hecla Street Railway; Masontown-Morgantown Street Railway; McKeesport & Irwin Railway; Pittsburgh, McKeesport & Connellsville Railway; Uniontown Radial Street Railway; West Penn Interurban Railway; West Penn Railways (old); West Penn Traction; and White Electric Traction companies.

In addition, West Penn Railways had stock ownership of Pittsburgh and Allegheny Valley Traction, Kittanning & Leechburg Railways, Oakdale & McDonald Street Railway, Allegheny Valley Street Railway, and Wheeling Traction companies.

At least 10 reasons were cited for the demise of the once-popular trolley system:

The increasing advent of personal transportation (the automobile).

Obsolescence of equipment, and the high cost of replacement of old and uncomfortable cars.

Paving costs, including relocation, because of a boom in highway expansion.

Areas of static or declining population, one being caused by the coal and coke decline in Fayette.

Widespread areas with little or no population on West Penn's urban routes.

No major centers of economic activity for solid "load factor" in its suburban and rural area.

Lack of investment capital because of inadequate return and poor profit record.

Advent of television in the late 1940s, which led more people to spend their evenings at home.

Inflexibility of tracked routes as new residential areas grew.

Competition with forms of transportation that could use available roads.

By 1919, West Penn Railways directly owned and operated 339 miles of line and owned the stock and operated 134 miles of additional lines. There were 343 passenger and freight cars, and 90 work, sweeper and miscellaneous cars.

Four amusement parks were part of the Railways operation: Oakford near Jeannette, Olympia near McKeesport, Lenape near Ford City, and Allison between Leechburg and Apollo.

Shutdowns started in 1927, with Oakdale-McDonald. Kittanning to Lenape Park was shut down in 1928, Wheeling area went into receivership in 1931, Scottdale-Meadow Mill was shut down in 1931, Boston-Scott Haven in 1932, and Greensburg-Bunker Hill in 1934.

Flood damage in 1936 caused abandonment of Leechburg-Apollo, and highway crossing problems shut down Kittanning-Ford City that same year. In 1937, Tarentum-New Kensington-Aspinwall was shut down.

Irwin-McKeesport and local lines in McKeesport stopped service in 1938. In 1939, it was the alternate route from Greensburg to Scottdale via Hunker.

Electric freight service to Pittsburgh ended Sept. 15, 1941, when the city freight station was condemned. Trafford-Larimer was a 1942 casualty.

West Penn was still the third largest interurban trolley system in the nation when the temporary war upsurge with its gas rationing slowed in late 1946.

The inexorable trend continued Jan. 3, 1948, when the Irwin-Larimer line shut down, followed by those from Uniontown to Brownsville (Jan. 28, 1950), Martin (Feb. 4, 1950) and Fairchance (March 25, 1950).

On Jan. 20, 1951, the end came for Connellsville-Dickerson Run and Uniontown-Phillips.

The last gasp came in 1952, when the Irwin-Greensburg (July 12), Latrobe-Hecla Junction (Aug. 2) and the Greensburg-Uniontown and Connellsville-South Connellsville ended West Penn's railway operations.

Those final 1952 runs were accompanied by civic fanfare, fireworks, crowds and celebrations that made a colorful farewell to the once-busy interurban electric railway, signaling the end of a transportation era.

THIS DATE IN HISTORY

Railroad construction of nearly 150 years ago included the opening of the branch Pennsylvania line from Blairsville to Indiana, June 9, 1856.

Pitcairn was incorporated as a borough in 1891. The same day two years later, Daisytown in Cambria joined borough ranks.

The University of Pittsburgh began its move from the North Side (Allegheny City) campus to the new one in Oakland in 1909 on this date.

A post office was established in Wyano, Westmoreland County, in 1910, with Orton P. Parkin as postmaster. The name came from the Youghiogheny & Ohio (Y&O) Coal Co.

The Blairsville College for Women closed its doors in 1913.

The inevitable fire that marks most dates occurred June 9, 1993, in Jeannette with three deaths in a house blaze.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

Fifty years ago, in 1952-53, the march of progress was quite apparent in Pittsburgh.

The events in 1952 began in May when Gateway Center opened to tenants. On June 1, Greater Pittsburgh Airport was placed in operation. Then, in November, the city's first two Parking Authority garages began functioning.

In February 1953, the Lower Hill District redevelopment plan was announced. On June 5, the Squirrel Hill Tunnel and Parkway East officially opened. However, the Boulevard of the Allies had to be used as far as Bates Street in Oakland.

That Oct. 5, demolition of the Wabash building began. The Parkway West to the then-new airport opened 10 days later.

MINI-VIGNETTES

The town of Tarentum along the Allegheny River was known as "Bangtown" at the time of the Civil War, because cannons manufactured for the military were tested there.

In 1819, when Pittsburgh Academy became Western University of Pennsylvania, its faculty included four Presbyterian ministers and a Catholic priest.

When laid out in 1822, Elderton in Armstrong County was called Middletown because of its location between Kittanning and Indiana.

About 20 ships for ocean commerce were built in southwestern Pennsylvania during the first decade of the 1800s, but the difficulties in getting them over the falls in Louisville was a major problem in moving them to New Orleans and the open waters.

The first physician in Pittsburgh, some say, was Dr. Nathaniel Bedford, who came to town as an Army surgeon about 1770. He shortly resigned his commission to set up private practice.

Mrs. R.E. Umbel of Connellsville was widely known in the state for championing women's rights in the early 1900s. The wife of a judge, she was largely responsible for Fayette being one of only three counties in the state to vote "yes" for women's suffrage in 1915.

When Father John B. Causey visited the Catholic settlement between Greensburg and future St. Vincent College in 1789, the first Catholic Mass in a permanent settlement in western Pennsylvania was celebrated.

What might have been the first marriage in Pittsburgh was during the French occupation in the 1750s. The bride was a girl named Rachel, captured by the French and hospitalized. She won the heart of a French soldier at the hospital, and the Catholic chaplain of the French garrison, Father Denys Baron, performed the ceremony.

SPORTS HISTORY

Forty-one high schools in Pennsylvania have won 500 or more football games each, including Connellsville, which reached that mark at the end of last season.

Three eastern schools lead the way — Mt. Carmel (712), Easton (672) and Berwick (667) — all of which have been involved in the sport since the late 1880s and early 1890s.

That is earlier than western Pennsylvania schools, the first being Pittsburgh High (1890) and Allegheny High (1892), both no longer active.

Western Pennsylvania schools on the list, with state list position and number of wins indicated: 4 — New Castle (644); 6 — Greensburg Salem (620); 13 — Jeannette (574); 15 — Washington (570); 19 — Monessen (556); 20 — Sharon (551); 21 — Johnstown (550); 22 — DuBois (540); 23 (tie) — Pittsburgh Westinghouse (531); 25 (tie) — Beaver Falls (529); 27 — Hollidaysburg (528); 29 — Altoona (523); 30 — Aliquippa (522); 31 — Beaver (521); 34 — Windber (512); 35 (tie) — McKeesport (509); 38 — Rochester (504); and 41 — Connellsville (500).

Totals do not include alumni and nonschool games, which were frequent in earlier days.

Email Newsletters