Sunland Tribune

Volume 30 Article 6

2005

Tampa's Trolleys: Innovation, Demise, and Rediscovery

Meeghan Kane

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Recommended Citation Kane, Meeghan (2005) "Tampa's Trolleys: Innovation, Demise, and Rediscovery," Sunland Tribune: Vol. 30 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/sunlandtribune/vol30/iss1/6

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Meeghan Kane city of neighborhoods where residency de­ pended upon race, class, and religion, Tam­ n the late 1800s and early 1900s, a de­ pa's racial and ethnic divisions promoted sire to escape the clamor of a city's the development of suburbs (many restrict­ downtown for the serenity of its sur­ ed) and unincorporated enclaves; these rounding neighborhoods sent people reached further and further beyond the spilling out into the countryside. Immigra­ city's center.3 The ever-increasing distance tion and a general population surge, pro­ between city and suburb coincided with a pelled by the pursuit of the American shift in the perception of the automobile: dream, led to this mobility, and the street­ cars quickly changed from a luxury com­ car facilitated this dynamic. modity to a daily necessity. Profit and con­ The decision to bring the streetcar to venience drove the decision to close the Tampa was an easy and initially profitable trolley lines, and on August 3, 1946, the era one.I Cigar factories, an active port, and a of the nickel ride became a memory. 4 phosphate industry fueled Tampa's growth, The transition from trolleys to cars and and the social and cultural dynamics of buses marked an extraordinary shift in the population intensified. The streetcar civic, social, and cultural sensibilities amid brought opportunity and a transportation the changing identity of a nation. Labor revolution. At its peak in the 1920s, the tensions, politics, and the waking giant of trolley cost a nickel to ride, crisscrossed ar­ corporate influence all contributed to the eas of Hillsborough County with fifty miles transition. Recently, there has been a ro­ of track, and carried twenty-four million mantic return of Tampa's trolleys that adds people each year.2 another dimension to the discussion. To By the mid-1940s, transportation be­ understand these dynamics, we must look came increasingly dominated by buses, at the history of Tampa's streetcars. cars, trucks, and taxis. A booming post­ Both the beginning and the end of the World War II economy, the promise of in­ trolley system speak to Tampa's aggressive terstate highways, and the proliferation of commercial ambition. Predating the elec­ corporate enterprise all contributed to the tric lines, the first street railway system in abandonment of the trolley system. After Tampa began in 1885. The Tampa Street years of neglect and competition with the Railway Company, incorporated (in part) auto industry, Tampa's trolley system was by one of Tampa's most diligent pioneers, simply outdated and losing money. By John T. Leslie, operated "a wood-burning comparison to the trolley, automobiles and engine with several cars over a narrow buses provided quicker and quieter trans­ gauge track from downtown, along Franklin portation. Automobiles, dramatically in­ Street, to the adjacent town of Ybor City."5 creasing in size and number, vied for space The passenger cars consisted simply of with trolleys that barreled down the center scaled-down railroad cars. The tracks am­ of the city's major thoroughfares. Already a bled from downtown Tampa, through the 31 Tampa Suburban Company streetcar on Ballast Point route, 1892. (Courtesy Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Libraries, Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection.)

sparsely settled "Scrub" area northeast of solidate, merge, expand, and diversify, all to the city, and ended at the newly established exploit the new invention. Private compa­ cigar-making center, Ybor City. Vicente nies now entered the transportation busi­ Martinez Ybor, who founded Ybor City in ness on a grand scale. Like the railroad 1886, also held a stake in the Railway Com­ magnates that controlled the travel and pany.6 Although primitive compared to the trade of a nation, local companies or re­ labyrinthine systems of some other cities, gional conglomerates influenced the expan­ the Tampa Street Railway Company's line sion patterns and internal transportation connected two vastly different communi­ needs of a city. These influences not only ties: the conservative white mainstream affected the development of neighborhoods city of Tampa and the politically radical, and suburbs, but also affected individual ca­ ethnically diverse enclave of Ybor City. In­ reers and employment, commercial trends extricably tethered to one another through and industrial growth, the success of local local politics and economy, the cultural dis­ vacation destinations, and how people tinctiveness of Ybor City and Tampa were spent their leisure time. prescient indicators of the ability of the In 1892, the Tampa Street Railway sys­ trolley to connect and yet forever separate. tem combined with the Florida Electric As a result of the innovations of Frank Company to form the Tampa Street Railway Sprague of Richmond, the electric streetcar and Power Company. That same year, Pe­ was born in 1887. Sprague developed a four­ ter 0. Knight joined the competition for the wheeled prototype that was pulled along by trolley market Forseeing the potential prof­ an overhead wire that transmitted electric­ its, Knight formed the Tampa Suburban ity to the cars. Originally called a "troller," Company. The company sought to take ad­ the more affable name "trolley" was quick­ vantage of the growing commercial inter­ ly adopted. 7 As word of this new technology ests in Tampa, principally the magnificent spread, commercial enterprise kicked-in, new Tampa Bay Hotel, opened in 1891. and electric companies made haste to con- Knight also understood the role of the first 32 Streetcar barn interior, with trolley and spare parts, 1911. (Courtesy Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Libraries, Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection.) suburbs in realizing, for many Tampans, the businessmen resided in Tampa Heights and American dream. Like the much later de­ Hyde Park, places served by the first street­ velopments of cookie-cutter homes and re­ cars. Access to new areas facilitated expan­ tention ponds beyond the school districts of sion of the lines, increasing the financial inner cities, the suburbs of the 1890s of­ gain of investors. Bayshore Boulevard den­ fered the middle class an escape. Just far izens Chester E. Chapin and his wife, enough to escape the grit of downtown Emelia, played major roles in the develop­ Tampa, these neighborhoods depended on ment of that area.8 Since the Chapins were the streetcar to connect residents with significant contributors to the Consumers work, school, shopping, and recreation. Electric Light and Power Company, that However, the Tampa Street Railway and service quickly answered the ardent re­ Power Company was not ready to surrender quests of these benefactors and laid tracks its share of this growth market to Knight. from downtown Tampa along Bayshore The company immediately secured an in­ Boulevard to Ballast Point.9 The line gave junction to stymie further operation of its Mrs. Chapin the perfect opportunity to ride new rival's lines. While the appeal was her personal trolley car, "Fair Florida," into pending, Knight restructured the company town. The company also created an amuse­ to organize a new corporation, selling stock ment park at the line's terminus in Ballast to Tampa citizens. In 1894, the Consumers Point.IO Hugh MacFarlane, a principal in Electric Company, Knight's new company, the West Tampa Latin cigar making com­ emerged as the dominant streetcar system, munity, and his associates helped the Con­ winning a rate war against its adversary and sumer Electric Light and Power Company buying them out on June 18 of that year. to finance a streetcar service to West Tam­ Tampa's earliest suburbs were developed pa.11 The streetcar lines had truly begun to at the discretion of the streetcar stockhold­ shape and reconfigure the city of Tampa. ers with consideration for prominent local The trolley system continued to grow, merchants and builders. Many prominent forging new paths or simply following the 33 the sole provider for both electricity and public transportation in the Tampa area.14 Trolley use would reach its peak in the 1920s and fluctuate thereafter, hitting a spi­ raling after World War II. Peter 0. Knight, was and is considered a monument to the trolley's legacy. A man of many talents and responsibilities, Knight served as legal counsel for Tampa Electric Company, as its vice president, and then as its president from 1924 to 1946. He was al­ so the lawyer for the Florida Central and Peninsula Railroad (FC& P), the Seaboard Air Line Railway, and the Tampa Northern Railroad.IS Knight organized or sponsored an impressive and diverse array of compa­ nies including the Ybor City Land & Im­ provement Co., Tampa Phosphate Co., Tri­ bune Publishing Co., Florida Brewing Co., Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Co., Ex­ change National Bank of Tampa, and the Tampa Gas Company.16 Needless to say, his interests were stretched thin and they sometimes conflicted, but most locals Peter 0. Knight, longtime director of Tampa agreed that his influence in Tampa went far Electric Company and the man most responsi­ and wide, ranging from politics and promo­ ble for the streetcar system's longevity in tion to industry and public utilities. Tampa. (Courtesy of Tampa Historical Society Decades later, following the last day of Archives.) streetcar service in Tampa, the Tampa Dai­ ly Times extolled Knight as "one of the city's demographic patterns of Tampa's soaring greatest and best-loved builders." Despite and diverse population. Problems arose, his role as an early advocate and organizer companies formed and dissolved, and com­ of the trolley system and a former presi­ petition was fierce. Consumer Electric's dent, with a twenty-year tenure, of Tampa Ybor City line proved the most disruptive in Electric Company, Knight met the street­ its tactics. With lines running parallel to car's end with surprising silence. The Tam­ those of the Tampa Street Railway Compa­ pa Daily Times described Knight's reticence ny, a rate war was instigated by Consumer to respond to the end of an era: "Like the Electric, which dropped streetcar fares on older motormen, some with as much as the Ybor lines to two cents. Unable to com­ thirty years' experience on the streetcars, pete with the strong financial backing of who stopped by the [streetcar barn that Consumer Electric, Tampa Street Railway day] to say goodbye, the small, white­ Company declared bankruptcy and was haired man had little to say. He sent word purchased by Consumer Electric in 1894. that he had no formal statement to make on Although Consumer Electric itself went in­ the abandonment of the trolley."17 Having to receivership in 1899, Peter 0 . Knight re­ given up the Tampa Electric presidency the organized the firm, this time as Tampa Elec­ previous year due to illness, Knight died in tric Company (TEC0).12 Later, in 1907, the 1946, a few months after the death of the Tampa & Sulphur Springs Traction Compa­ trolleys in Tampa. He had once told friends, ny entered the competition, first forming a "I have been highly privileged to have lived line to Sulphur Springs to promote the area in a Golden Era. I lived to see Tampa and as a tourist sp_ot and soon establishing lines Florida grow to tremendous proportions, un­ across Tampa. By 1911, Sulphur Springs dreamed of before. I am sure they will grow Traction Company had declared bankrupt­ in the same way in the future."18 cy and Tampa Electric picked up the com­ Tampa's change-over to bus public pany's lines in 1913.13 TECO then owned transportation came at the end of World all of the streetcars and lines, and became War II, a time of incredible transformation, 34 Crowd gathered at streetcar accident on Tampa Street (3500 block), 1914. (Courtesy Tampa­ Hillsborough County Public Libraries, Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection.) with those in power geared towards the da Supreme Court upholding the Tampa growth of Tampa and their own financial Board's decision to force Tampa Electric to success. Political scientist Robert Kerstein lower rates by thirty percent. In 1943, a describes the period: "the governing coali­ judge ordered the company to refund tions were generally narrowly based, in­ overcharges to customers.20 Some of these cluding white business and professional excess funds had subsidized the trolley's interests and politicians who constituted operation, and now made the system a lia­ a growth-oriented, cohesive regime and bility.21 Later, in 1945, an attempt to make gained electoral support from much of the Tampa Electric a publicly-owned company white middle class, while excluding African­ failed, but only after considerable debate American concerns and, more generally, and powerful political influences tugging at those of the lower income population."19 either side of the issue.22 Through it all, Those who depended on the trolley and its TECO remained a formidable force. The de­ populist five-cent fare, particularly those in cision to replace the trolleys with buses and lower income brackets, now relied on Tam­ to remove TECO from the transportation pa Transit Lines, owner of the bus lines. industry eliminated some facets of the em­ Controversy had dogged Tampa Electric pire and assuaged a few critics. Ultimately, Company, which Knight founded in 1899. however, the change did little more than During the late 1930s, the city formed the usher in a new era of complicity between Tampa Utility Board (this responsibility was TECO and the automotive industry. Some eventually transferred to the state under observers suggested the converse: that com­ the Florida Railroad Commission, later re­ plicity with carmakers ushered in a new era named the Florida Railroad and Public Util­ of transportation. ities Commission) to regulate utility rates, a Clearly, by 1946, the streetcar system major point of contention dating back to was a misplaced cog in Tampa Electric's the turn of the century. A protracted legal corporate wheel. In 1945, the company de­ battle finally ended in 1941 with the Flori- rived its greatest source of income from the 35 sale of light and power. Street railway rev­ General Motors, the director of operations enues dropped by over $60,000 and usage came from a GM subsidiary, Yellow Coach, had decreased by over a million passengers and members of its Board of Directors by 1944, but the electric company con­ hailed from Greyhound, which was founded tinued to grow reporting an increase of and controlled by General Motors. In fact, 3199 customers from 1944 to 1945, and an­ Greyhound provided the funding to start other 1117 customers in the first months of National City Lines. By 1946, the company 1946.23 To continue operation of the trolley, controlled public transportation in eighty­ TECO claimed that it would have to invest three cities. Investigated for antitrust viola­ $2,700,000 in new cars and equipment. tion by the U.S. Department of Justice for "Except during [World War II], the street­ twenty-five years, General Motors added cars [had] been operating at a loss for more another dimension to controversy over the than ten years."24 The city grew and the de­ shift from trolleys to buses.27 mand for electricity increased, yet fewer The buses won the transportation war in rode the rails. Some felt the streetcars were Tampa, as they did in most cities across the too old and unreliable, and TECO neglected country. Since 1940, the electric company to build new routes to reach the city's out­ in Tampa had been trying to sell the street­ ermost suburbs.25 Buses took the place of car lines, and on April 24, 1946, after trolleys in the distant suburbs; these could months of meetings and proposals, the offi­ easily reach those areas without the ex­ cial announcement was made. Both Tampa pense of laying new rail. Transit Lines and Tampa Electric "stated Tampa Transit Lines first entered the that negotiations in process for the last two scene in 1940 on a small scale in collabora­ years have been closed between [both com­ tion with the Jacksonville Transit Compa­ panies], whereby streetcars will discontin­ ny. "Jacksonville had buses; they had got­ ue operations on [August 1] and buses will ten rid of their streetcars. It was the trend­ begin giving complete service to all areas it was Tampa's tum." A.B."Tony" Grandoff now served by both companies." The an­ spoke these words decades after he first nouncement sparked months of fervent de­ leased four small buses on a mileage basis, bate colored with political intimidation and operating on a route stretching through coercion. Signed by both F. J. Gannon, downtown from Jackson Heights and Palma president of TECO, and Robert H. Farrell, of Ceia. Tampa Transit Lines culled its drivers Tampa Transit, the agreement still needed from Grandoffs other business venture, the approval of the Florida Railroad Com­ Economy Cab. Grandoff promptly wanted mission, the City of Tampa, and other gov­ to expand, but Tampa Electric effectively ernment authorities. The companies agreed lobbied to block the permits to do so. that the trolleys would continue to operate Grandoff remembers, "With Tampa Elec­ until the August 1 date settled upon, and tric's clout, I was turned down when I ap­ Tampa Transit paid $85,000 for the cars to plied for the Florida Avenue permit. We al­ be stored in Tampa Electric's car barns un­ ready had the buses for the run in Tampa, til eventually sold to foreign markets. Far­ so I ran an ad in the Tribune about the tum­ rell made only vague references to job secu­ down of the application and asked the citi­ rity and transferable seniorit, and, when zens of Florida Avenue to accept a free bus asked about the five-cent fare, he replied ride to City Hall during the next City Coun­ simply that his company would "give it a cil meet[ing.] They flooded the Council fair try."28 Although the news of the deal Chambers, but to no avail; we were turned surprised no one, consumers feared price down again." However, Grandoffs following hikes and lost or forgotten routes once the did not let him down, increasing their num­ tracks vanished. Tensions mounted be­ bers at the following meeting where he fi­ tween bus drivers and streetcar motormen, nally received his first permit. He ran the both represented by the same union. Many company until September 1941 when he locals simply mourned the loss of the ro­ was bought out by a Chicago-based opera­ mance of the trolley and the memories it tion, National City Lines, that ran the sys­ evoked. tem under its trade name Tampa Transit Customers remembered their rides on Lines for the next thirty years, wielding the streetcars with great fondness. It was considerable political "clout."26 Although the "main source of transportation," re­ the company had no "visible connection" to called one man, years later. Recalling his 36 Swann Avenue T. E. CO. streetcar No. 131, in front of 7th Avenue car barn, 1919. (Courtesy Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Libraries, Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection.) days riding the streetcars as "a joy," Bob Tampa sand, mix in Tampa sandspurs, tie Martinez, the former mayor of Tampa and the top, and fling it with all our might at the former governor of Florida, add~d that they four parallel black iron railings of the street­ were "safe and reliable transportation. car. The bags would break, the sand would Most people lived within reasonable walking spill all over the passengers, and we would distance of a streetcar line. They were built run through the neighborhood back alleys to follow the cigar factories and other job to our secret hiding place. "31 Trolleys car­ markets. It caused businesses to locate ried people to the amusement park in along with them."29 Before World War II, Sulphur Springs, the Oriental pavilion at people walked or rode the trolley. Most be­ Ballast Point, and the recreation area at gan riding the streetcar alone as a teenager. Palmetto Beach. For many Tampans, their It represented independence, much like the best memories included the streetcars. automobiles of later years. Perhaps more Memories of the streetcars were not lim­ importantly, the neighborhood lines also ited to the reveries of passengers or recol­ supported the concept of community. lections of adolescent pranksters. Former Many of the open-air cars were a source of employees also expressed feelings of loss at neighborhood gossip, virtually showcasing the streetcars' demise. E. G. Perez, a trans­ the working and the jobless, who sat with portation inspector for Tampa Electric, whom, and who came home later than they worked for the company thirty-three years, should have.30 Typically for neighborhood starting at age twenty-two. He said, " I like fixtures, trolleys often fell victim to school­ to see Tampa progress, but I hate to see boy pranks. Artist Ferdie Pacheco recalled streetcars go. After all, I have been working in his memoir Ybor City Chronicles that with them during the best part of my life." greasing the trolley tracks rendered the car W.H. Brown, a streetcar operator starting in a "stationary target." "We would take a 1915, said, "I'll feel lonesome without small brown paper bag, fill it with loose grey streetcars." Other workers articulated sim- 37 ilar sentiments, but future employment re­ tween the bus drivers and the streetcar op­ mained the dominant concern for most. erators in the union. Drivers from both "Progress" now seemed irrevocably bound companies wished to maintain their current to the new bus system.32 status. Older streetcar operators, whose se­ Just prior to the announcement of the niority far surpassed those of bus drivers, sale, the streetcar drivers had finally re­ threatened the status of the Tampa Tran­ ceived a ten-percent pay increase. The in­ sit employees when they transferred to crease brought them to the "same top rate, the company. Amidst nationwide rail­ eighty-eight cents an hour, as the Tampa road strikes, Tampa's transportation woes Transit Lines bus drivers."33 The decision reached a fevered pitch. On May 30 - two came a week after the bus drivers had re­ days before the expiration of the unions ceived their eight-cent raise, and two days contract with Tampa Transit - members before the official announcement of the called a vote to strike in demand for senior­ abandonment.34 All the operators initially ity. Only a "handful of bus drivers" attend­ belonged to the same union, the Amalga­ ed. While the streetcar operators voted to mated Association of Street Electric Rail­ strike if Tampa Transit failed to meet their way and Motor Coach Employees of Ameri­ demands, bus drivers looked for new repre­ ca under the American Federation of Labor sentation. A. F. Steele, special representa­ (AFL). A provision in the agreement be­ tive of Amalgamated Association of Street tween TECO and Tampa Transit stipulated Electric Railway and Motor Coach Em­ that the bus company would employ as ployes of America AFL, said, "I understand many of the motormen as qualified for that that the bus drivers have joined the Broth­ position, in addition to any others the com­ erhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT), which pany could "reasonably make use of. "35 has promised them that the streetcar driv­ This ambiguous promise failed to ease ers would get no seniority rights." Steele the worries of men without pensions, and and a group of the streetcar operators orga­ ignored the issue of recognizing the em­ nized a picket line in front of the bus sta­ ployees' established seniority. Some men tion that effectively blocked off both the had driven the streetcars for decades, up streetcar and the bus lines. Even as the to thirty years. Many of these "old-timers" union began to splinter, Steele remained doubted they would be hired on by the bus confident that bus drivers, out of a sense of line, agonizing over their mortgages and union solidarity, would not break the pick­ other expenses. Gannon, the president of et line.38 A representative from the U. S. TECO, called these men "victims of obso­ Conciliation Service arrived to begin nego­ lescence." The electric company had no tiations between Tampa Transit and the pension plan but, as their deadline ap­ streetcar workers' union, easing tensions proached and several months had already and delaying the possibility of a strike.39 passed, the company tried to work out a However, the employment status of the plan of relief for those men deemed unqual­ streetcar workers complicated matters. Not ified by the bus lines. Gannon commented, yet Tampa Transit employees, the opera­ "We didn't want to promise anything until tors feared a strike might diminish their after we found out how many would be chances in an increasingly competitive without work after the streetcars are aban­ qualification process to become bus driv­ doned, because we thought some might be ers. 40 On July 20, Raymond Sheldon, state reluctant to apply for bus jobs if they knew senator and attorney for the streetcar work­ they would get a pension from us."36 He al­ ers' union, filed a petition with the Florida so revealed his attempts on three occasions Railroad Commission opposing abandon­ to sell the streetcar company to the union ment of the railway system, and claiming for one dollar, and further insisted that the that Tampa Transit had not acted in good workers knew for years about the compa­ faith according to their original agreement ny's intention to sell the system. The presi­ to hire the trolley operators. Because aban­ dent of the union, G. A. Fox, maintained donment of the street car system under pre­ that the union, like the company, would not sent provisions, would leave some TECO have been able to sustain the trolley sys­ employees in "'a worse position of employ­ tem.37 Seniority remained a poignant yet ment or rights,' [Sheldon) contended, the unanswered question. public interest would be damaged, and he A schism over seniority rights grew be- reminded Commissioners that it was part of 38 Streetcar, automobile, and pedestrian traffic on Franklin Street (600-700 block), looking northeast, 1925. (Courtesy Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Libraries, Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection.) their duty to see that public interest [was] was on the horizon. protected."41 Witnesses testified that they While labor struggled with their bosses, considered the hiring procedures unfair. the bosses proceeded to ready the city for However, the commission remained skepti­ the transition and the city planned for the cal of their complaints. future. Immediately following the an­ Ultimately, all but one of the Tampa nouncement of the abandonment, Tampa Transit bus drivers quit the streetcar union Transit petitioned to end free transfers on and joined the BRT.42 Tampa Transit hired its bus lines. Already sensing the end of seventy-five of the over one hundred street­ competition, the application read, in part, car drivers, bringing to 185 the total num­ "Privilege is serving no useful purpose: is ber of bus drivers. C. J. Helbing, Tampa expensive for petitioners to maintain; Transit Manager, commented, "Thirty-one produces much daily confusion and over­ TECO employees who applied for bus jobs crowding of the buses in a manner detri­ failed to qualify for physical reasons, but mental to their orderly operating and that some will be hired after their ailments have discontinuance will not only foster operat­ been corrected. A few were rejected because ing economies but will permit the petitioned they did not know how to drive automobiles. to furnish fast and more satisfactory service The age limit was waived for streetcar mo­ to bus riders in the City of Tampa."45 Hills­ tormen, but they were given the same train­ borough legislator Sheldon again rallied to ing course as any other applicants."43 In a the cause, insisting that the Tampa Utility showing of postwar gender equality, four Board fix the rates. However, this time Shel­ women, two of whom transferred with don used his support of rate reductions as the streetcar operators, were hired as bus part of his reelection campaign; his per­ drivers.44 By August 3, the last day of sched­ ceived pandering brought him into the uled streetcar service in Tampa, the senior­ crosshairs of election-year crossfire. Frank ity issue remained unresolved, but no strike R. Crom accused the senator of supporting 39 Franklin Street, looking south at Zack Street, showing streetcar, automobile and pedestrian traffic, 1935. (Courtesy Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Libraries, Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection.) special interests and ignoring the legislative pledged to tear up the bumpy railway control over transportation rates until after tracks. "Gleefully, Mayor Hixon announced Tampa Electric sold its streetcars. Other that the city soon will undertake its most critics insisted that the power to govern extensive street repair program in history transporation lie in the hands of city repre­ as the Tampa Electric Co. carries out its sentatives and the state remain out of the obligation to rip up miles of street car rails matter. "The State Senate has no control and replace the nine-foot strip in the mid­ over buses, but if it does I will fight for five­ dle of the streets with smooth pavement."47 cent fares and free transfers, too. The pow­ By May of 1953, the last of the tracks final­ er lies with your own City Representative," ly disappeared in a massive project to re­ claimed Hugh L. McArthur, another politi­ move all traces of the streetcar from Tam­ cal opponent of Sheldon.46 The Utility pa.48 On July 31, TECO's last hurdle was Committee of the Board of Representatives cleared when the Florida Railroad Commis­ eventually approved the ban on free trans­ sion granted its request to "abandon and fers, and Tampa Transit expected a three to discontinue" the railway service. · four percent increase in revenue. The com­ With the bus companies moving ahead, pany also made plans to spend $800,000 on city leaders planned for a smooth transition new bus services, including sixty-five new from the old trolley system to the new bus buses, to take on their new routes. To keep system. Parking measures that aimed to the buses running smoothly, Tampa Electric provide restrictions and assign reserved 40 spaces for the buses were discussed. Offi­ point the trolleys filled up from the back cials analyzing traffic surveys publicly and front with blacks and whites respective­ gushed at the possibilities of "super-roads." ly. The State Railway Commission insisted Editorials delighted in the decision to end upon the signs in accordance with state law. the trolley's long run in favor of the buses, Interestingly, in an ad issued by Tampa claiming that public transportation had long Electric, Manager T. J. Hanlon, Jr. distanced been "inadequate and inconvenient" and the company from the decision by blaming had supported a flourishing taxi cab indus­ it on the complaints of "one, Scott Leslie."S4 try. 49 The Tampa Morning Tribune ran a Dependent on the patronage of all races, week-long series acquainting readers with particularly in the racially diverse commu­ Tampa Transit's new bus lines, which now nity of Ybor City, Tampa Electric practiced covered "113 miles of city and adjacent sub­ caution in its observance of state segrega­ urban thoroughfares" and would travel tion laws. In 1904, the company removed 92,313 miles weekly.so its race separation signs after a series of But did the citizens of Tampa want bus­ disturbances and a "delegation of colored es? On the last day of the streetcar's run, citizens urged that the regulation be with­ Senator Sheldon filed a reply to the Florida drawn. "SS One such disturbance occurred Railroad Commission, "pointing out that no when a white man, Theodore Kennedy, evidence [had] been offered, other than by complained to a black woman about where officials of Tampa Transit and TECO, to she was seated. The women replied with show that the public favored the elimination what the Tampa Morning Tribune called a of the streetcars." Sheldon's statement also "torrent of abuse." According to the report, claimed that seating capacity declined by the woman told Kennedy that "she was as 1,580 seats in the transition.SI Indeed, dur­ good as he was" and "that the company gave ing the morning rush of the first day of op­ her as much right on the cars as the 'white erations, the buses filled to overflowing, re­ trash' and that she wouldn't allow any 'cow­ sulting in the confusion and frustration pre­ faced cracker' to throw off on her." The in­ dicted by opponents of the new system. Yet, cident culminated in Kennedy striking the the customers seemed impressed by the woman and both being arrested, although speed, while City Traffic Director, Captain Kennedy bore the burden of the larger Hamm, foresaw a lessening in traffic prob­ fine.S6 While the removal of the signs lems with the coming of the buses.S2 All in marked a victory for Civil Rights before the all, there was little apparent reason to term was coined, the even greater successes protest. No one wanted to take on the re­ of Jim Crow laws and disenfranchisement sponsibility of operating the streetcars any proved effective in securing public and cor­ longer, the mayor delighted in the removal porate policies on segregation. The tide of the tracks, the city was growing and changed in the 1940s and SOs as federal rul­ spilling into the countryside, and people ings began to chip away at Jim Crow laws, needed a reliable way from home to work. but Florida remained one of the last states Although some workers were left behind, relinquish these remnants of the "peculiar Tampa Transit employed a majority of the institution" of slavery. former streetcar workers. Dr. Gary Mormi­ Overall, the excitement of transporta­ no writes that the streetcars were "victims tion progress veiled lurking conspiracies, of neglected maintenance, postwar afflu­ forgotten streetcar workers, and the passing ence, and collusion between Detroit au­ of a social institution. At 2:30 a.m. on Au­ tomakers and utility companies." Many felt gust 3, 1946, the last of the 168 streetcars this was simply progress. Moreover, Ameri­ that had traveled 9,000 miles a day over 53 cans, recovering from the sacrifices of de­ miles of track came to a halt and was stored pression and war, wanted cars. in the trolley barn, along with others, along With all these changes in Tampa trans­ Hillsborough River in Tampa Heights.S7 portation, one thing remained constant: the Tampa Transit stripped the cars and sent segregation of the transportation lines.SJ most of the hardware to South America. In 1923, all cars operated by Tampa Electric The gutted shells were divided and sent in were equipped "with Bennett Adjustable different directions. Some were simply Race Separation Signs," implementing a tossed in scrap yards, some were torched, policy that all blacks must sit behind the others became chicken coops or even apart­ sign and all whites in front. Up until that ments, and six went to Pensacola to become 41 a Christian camp.58 low-cost public housing was torn down a few Fading into history, the cars resurfaced blocks away. This was replaced by facilities in 2002 in what would become a divisive that house a significantly smaller number of move by the city to encourage tourism people, displacing the poor. Funding for through revival of the streetcars. A single more housing and social services remains line once again connected Ybor City to relatively low. Not without continued de­ downtown Tampa. Instead of bringing work­ bate, the city embraced the revitalized ers to and from work and home, the new streetcar and the heritage tourism it plays trolley lines connected a festive entertain­ to - both requiring large-scale funding sup­ ment, arts, and shopping district via a re­ port from municipal sources. furbished channel district to a struggling From innovative technology to inconve­ downtown area (still awaiting its commer­ nient relic to romantic memory to restored cial and cultural facelift.) Neither a neces­ artifact, the streetcar either captained sity nor a regular option for most Tampans, growth or anchored the city to its past. The the $53 million project sparked debates growth of Tampa (and most cities) drives its over pragmatism versus romance. Romance decisions from era to era. Tampa's ventures won with the indefatigable industry and lob­ into tourism and a general re-evaluation of bying by the Tampa & Ybor Street Railway its image have intensified and rekindled in­ Society. The Society, founded in 1984, was terest in the city's past, and the streetcar backed at various times by influential politi­ embodies the link between that past and the cians such as former mayors Bob Martinez city's future. Whether a product of the self­ and Dick Greco, and relied on the fundrais­ interested dreams of commercial developers ing support of local artist Ferdie Pacheco.59 or a genuine reminder of local history, the While the city laid trolley tracks through trolley now guides Tampans into an era of Ybor City for the second time in its history, rediscovery.

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5101 East Hanna, Tampa (813) 621-3091 •FAX (813) 623-1380 ENDNOTES Memories," Tampa Trolley Times 7, (1996): 4 31. Ferdie Pacheco, Ybor City Chronicles: A Memoir, 1. Robert Lehman, "Streetcars in Tampa and St. Pe­ Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1997, 94. tersburg: A Photographic Essay," Tampa Bay His­ 32. "Streetcar Men to Miss Trolleys," Tampa Daily tory 19 (1997): 37. Times, 25 April 1946. 2. Kurt Loft, "Tampa's Colorful Streetcar History," 33. "Trolley Operators Granted 10% Raise," Tampa Tampa Tribune, 18 October 2002. Daily Times, 22 April 1946. 3. Gary R Mormino and George E. Pozzetta, The Im­ 34. "Bus Drivers Get 8-Cent Increase," Tampa Daily migrant World of Ybor City: Italians and Their Times, 13 April 1946. Latin Neighbors in Tampa, 1885-1985. Gaines­ 35. "Railways to End Half Century of Service." ville: University Press of Florida, 1998. 36. "Tampa Electric Co. Hearing Concludes," Tampa 4. Leland Hawes, "Streetcars Stopped 50 Years Ago," Daily Times, 20 July 1946. Tampa Tribune, 4 August, 1996. 37. "Teco President Replies to Union," Tampa Daily 5. Donald J. Ivey, "John T. Leslie: Tampa's Pioneer Re- Times, 14 May 1946. naissance Man," Sunland Tribune 21 (1995): 15. 38. "Strike Voted By Street Car Workers Here," Tampa 6. Lehman, 37. Daily Times , 31May1946. 7. Ibid. 39. "Conciliator Here in Transit Row," Tampa Daily 8. Michael Canning, "Heiress gave lights, trolley line," Times, 8 June 1946. St. Petersburg Times, 30 August 2002. 40. "Streetcar Union Delays Action," Tampa Daily 9. Charles A. Brown, "Bayshore Boulevard: A Brief Times, 1 June 1946. Look at its Historic Past," Sunland Tribune 20, 41. "Tampa Electric Co. Hearing Concludes." (1994): 51. 42. "Bus Drivers Quit Street Car Union," Tampa Daily 10. Canning. Times, 15 July 1946. 11. Arsenio M. Sanchez, "Tampa's Early Lighting and 43. "75 Streetcar Men To Operate Buses," Tampa Dai­ Transportation," Sunland Tribune 17, (1991): 31. ly Times, 29 July 1946. 12. Lehlman, 38. 44. "Four Strong Women Ready to Drive Buses," Tam­ 13. Karl Grismer, Tampa: A History of the City of Tam­ pa Daily Times, 19 July 1946. pa and the Tampa Bay Region of Florida. St. Pe­ 45. "Buses Ask to Stop Free Transfers," Tampa Daily tersburg: The St. Petersburg Printing Company, Times, 29 April 1946. 1950, 199. 46. Hampton Dunn, "Bus Fare Stand of Sheldon 14. Robert E. Sims, "From Trolleys to Buses and In Be­ Rapped," Tampa Daily Times, 1May1946. tween," Sunland Tribune 14, (1988): 16. 47. "Electric Co. Will Rip Up Miles of Rails," Tampa 15. Robert Kerstein, Politics and Growth in Twenti­ Daily Times, 30 July 1946. eth-Century Tampa, Gainesville: University of 48. "TECO Removing Last of Trolley Tracks Here," Florida Press, 2001, 32. Tampa Daily Times , 23 May 1953. 16. Nancy L. Rachels, "Peter 0. Knight: Pioneer and 49. David E. Smiley, "First Order of Business for Bus Spokesman for Florida," Sunland Tribune 5, Lines is Service," Tampa Daily Times, 1 August (1979): 5. 1946. 17. "Streetcars Monument to Peter 0. Knight," Tampa 50. "Street Cars to Quit Here Next Sunday," Tampa Daily Times, 3 August 1946. Morning Tribune, 29 July 1946. 18. "Death Takes P. 0. Knight at Home Here," Tampa 51. "Motormen to Become New Drivers," Tampa Daily Morning Tribune, 27 November 1946. Times, 3 August 1946. 19. Kerstein, 120. 52. "Riders Find Smooth Switchover to Buses," Tampa 20. Ibid, 94. Daily Times, 5 August 1946. 21. Sam Corson, "TECO Subsidized the Ride in the 53. Gary Mormino, "The Summer of '46," Sunland Tri­ Heyday of Streetcars," St. Petersburg Times, 1 Ju­ bune 22, (1996): 82. ly 2001. 54. "To Streetcar Patrons," Tampa Morning Tribune, 22. Ibid, 101. 12 June 1923. 23. "Teco's Net Income Less Than In 1944," Tam pa SS. "Color Line Lifted," St. Petersburg Times, 25 June Daily Times, 15 May 1946. Complete statistics 1904. quoted in the article: "Revenue from the street 56. Canter Brown, Jr. and Larry Eugene Rivers, "'Ne­ railway department was $1,052,100, a decrease of groes are there to stay': Development of Tampa's $63,500 from 1944. Streetcars carried 21,282,252 African-American Community, 1891-1916," Sun­ passengers excluding transfers, 1,265,974 fewer land Tribune 22, 2003, 68. than 1944." However, the company "had 59,683 57 . Coman. electric customers at the end of 1945, a gain of 58. Babita Persaud, "Rollin 3,199 over 1944, and reported an additional 1,177 g Back to the Future," Tam­ pa Tribune, 19 customer during the first three months of 1946 October 2002. 59. Brady Dennis, 24. "Loss Involved In Streetcar System Told," Tampa "Station Clears Road for More Trol­ leys," St. Petersburg Times , 31 Daily Times, 19 July 1946. January 25. Sims, 24. 26. Ibid, 19. 27. Jim Klein and Martha Olsen, "Taken for a Ride," New Day Films, PBS, August 1996. 28. "Railways to End Half Century of Service to City," Tampa Daily Times, 24 April 1946. 29. Coman. 30. Jennifer Paul, "Oral History Project Yields Many 43