John F. Tucker collection on transit history 2046 This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on September 14, 2021. Description is written in: English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard Manuscripts and Archives PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library John F. Tucker collection on transit history 2046 Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 Historical Note ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Scope and Content ....................................................................................................................................... 12 Administrative Information .......................................................................................................................... 12 Related Materials ......................................................................................................................................... 13 Controlled Access Headings ........................................................................................................................ 14 Collection Inventory ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company ....................................................................................................... 14 - Page 2 - John F. Tucker collection on transit history 2046 Summary Information Repository: Manuscripts and Archives Title: John F. Tucker collection on transit history ID: 2046 Date [inclusive]: 1895-2002, bulk 1920-1990 Date [bulk]: 1920-1990 Physical Description: 30.1 Linear Feet Language of the English . Material: Abstract: The John F. Tucker Transit History Collection consists of official documents produced or used by Mr. Tucker during his career as a public transit official, records of the pre-SEPTA Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (1907-1939) and the Philadelphia Transportation Company (1940-1968) that he preserved from loss or destruction, and materials collected out of his interest in the history of transit systems, particularly electric traction lines. The collection traces the evolution of the Philadelphia transit system, its extent, routes and services, and of North American rail rapid transit generally. ^ Return to Table of Contents Historical Note John Foster Tucker John Foster Tucker was born in Philadelphia on March 22, 1950. After graduating from Drexel University with a degree in commerce and engineering, he joined the then newly-formed Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), with which he spent the bulk of his professional career. He was employed successively as Transportation Analyst (1967-1972), Agency Liaison (1972-1975), Agency Coordinator (1975-1978), and Manager-Route & Service Planning (1978-1979). In November 1979, he became Chief Operations Planning Officer, and as such played a major role in the two important rail transit projects of the time, the line direct to Philadelphia International Airport and the building of the Center City Commuter Connection that linked the former Pennsylvania Railroad and Reading lines with a new underground station at Market East to replace the historic Reading Terminal. As those projects neared completion, Tucker was promoted to Chief Officer of the Regional Rail Division in June 1984 and became Chief Transportation Officer of the City Division (November - Page 3- John F. Tucker collection on transit history 2046 1987-March 1988), Director of Strategic Planning (April 1988-September 1989), and finally, Chief Corporate Relations Officer. Tucker left SEPTA in the early 1990s to head the Miami Valley Regional Transit Authority in Dayton, Ohio. He subsequently returned to Philadelphia as Vice President of Transportation Resource Associates, a consulting group formed with former colleagues. He became Vice President, Operations Planning for the New York City Transit Authority on June 23, 1997. Tucker died in Philadelphia on February 24, 2008. City Transit System In the early 1830s, at the very beginning of the railway age, the city government and two private companies laid rails on Market, Broad, Washington and Willow Streets. The main function of these early horse railroads was to distribute passengers and freight from the main line railroads entering the city on its perimeter and serve the docks and local industries. However, they also allowed private contractors to operate "pleasure cars," which primarily served to bring city dwellers to the parks and beer gardens at Grays Ferry and Fairmount on weekends, and these succumbed to temperance and Sabbatarian pressures in the 1850s. For most travelers, the only ways of getting around the city were by foot, private carriage, or omnibuses, large carriages operating on fixed routes and schedules. In the 1850s, horse-drawn street cars began appearing in most large American cities. Philadelphia was not the first, but it soon came to have the greatest horse car mileage, because the narrow streets required one-way operation. Beginning with the Frankford & Southwark of 1858, most horse car lines formed east-west or north-south loops on adjacent streets. The horse cars were Spartan at best, with hard benches, coal-oil lamps and straw-covered floors. The horses were often worked to death, and the men worked eighteen-hour days, seven days a week. African American residents could only ride on the outside platform until the passage of civil rights legislation after the Civil War. However, the horse cars were a major contributor to population dispersal that made Philadelphia a "City of Homes" rather than of tenements. By the 1860s, a third of the city's workers traveled by horse car. By 1876, there were nineteen companies operating 289 miles of track and carrying 117 million passengers annually. Because horse cars lines were private companies operating on the public streets, they occupied a contested domain. Franchises had to be obtained, typically from ward politicians who demanded shares in the company or patronage jobs for loyal voters. The companies were required to pave the streets around and between the rails and keep them clear of snow. A $50 tax per car discouraged the companies from enlarging their fleets. The main quid pro quo was a regulated low fare, usually five to seven cents. By the late 1870s, the city's physical expansion was straining the ability of the horse car lines to deliver an acceptable service. The lack of coordination among the many companies, the limits of animal power, and the increasing congestion of the streets all hindered further improvement. The answer lay in some form of mechanization, but that would require enormous capital investment. This transformation was accomplished by a trio of entrepreneurs, William Kemble, Peter Arrell Brown Widener and William Lukens Elkins, of whom Widener was the most optimistic and daring. Each had strong ties to the Republican city and state political machines, and each has already accumulated ready capital, Kemble in street railroads and banking, Widener in a chain of meat markets, and Elkins in oil. Widener and Elkins were also partners in real estate development in the north and northwestern parts of the city and later in the suburb of Elkins Park. - Page 4- John F. Tucker collection on transit history 2046 Since the law did not permit horse car companies to buy one another, they had to be combined in a pyramid of long-term leases with generous annual dividends guaranteed to the old companies at the base of the pyramid. The trio's activities spurred others to create rival combines, which had to be bought out, adding more layers to the pyramid and more claims on profits. This system promised large returns to the stockholders of the so-called "underlier" companies and would only work if mechanization could increase efficiency, and population growth in the service area produced a steady increase in the number of riders. Unfortunately, Widener probably underestimated the cost of mechanization and overestimated the growth potential of the service area. To replace the horses, the trio opted for cable cars, which had been tried in San Francisco and Chicago. They formed the Philadelphia Traction Company in 1833, which was limited to providing power to the existing lines. The installation of the first ten miles of cable took five years and cost $4 million, accompanied by many unsuccessful experiments and technical failures. After Kemble died in 1891, Widener decided to abandon cable for electrification. The first electric line, on Bainbridge and Catharine Streets opened in 1892, and the horse cars made their final runs in 1897. The electrification cost over $10 million, and the company was obligated to pave the streets from curb to curb in return for the privilege of stringing trolley wire. Again, competitors arose, and another step had to be added to the pyramid by the creation of the Union Traction Company in 1895. Within three years, Widener and Elkins had control of all the lines in the city. To boost off-peak ridership, the company built a 100-acre amusement park at Willow Grove in the northern suburbs in 1895. Electrification had not solved the problem of street congestion, which could be met only by the construction of elevated or subway lines. During