A Streetcar Named -- Lightning Route?
Did You Know Montgomery, AL is Home of the First Electric Street Car?
Electric street car?
Wasn't that in San Francisco?
You might think so, and nobody would blame you, but no, it was in fact in Montgomery. It was this city that first incorporated the electric streetcar system into its local city-wide travel system, back in 1886.
The unofficial name was the "Lightning Route" although its official name was actually the "Capitol City Street Railway Company."
Citizens had managed to get around town previously by using horse drawn transportation but the new streetcar system meant that many people could now live away from the city center since they now had streetcars to get them in and out of the downtown area.
This brought about an increase in development in non city-center areas. Such success did this streetcar system have that it continued for the next fifty years, right up until 1936 when it was abolished.
Fanfares and celebrations saw the end of the streetcars (nothing like going out in style!) as buses then took over.
Unfortunately, racial segregation was the order of the day on those buses and only the whites could sit at the front while blacks had to sit at the back.
Most Americans know the story of Rosa Parks, who encountered this very segregation and refused to give up her seat after a long day at work. The rest, as we know, is history, and the Civil Rights Movement was born.
Many people don't know however, that there had been a previous bus boycott, from 1900 to 1902 in fact, when blacks had tried back then to get the segregation laws banned. It was unsuccessful.
It would not be until 1956 and the Montgomery Bus Boycott lead by a Mrs. Rosa Parks and a young Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that segregation on buses would be abolished forever.
These days, if you should be visiting this fascinating city, you'll be able to see its historical areas by means of efficient diesel buses, known as the Lightning Route Trolleys.
Be sure to check these trolleys out if you're in town. Montgomery is full of history of course. But it seems its bus system has another one all of its own.
Published by Ed Walsh
- Car Washes and Detailers in Billings, MontanaIf you find yourself in need of a good car wash and detail, then you should take your car to one of the local car wash and detail businesses that are located throughout the city.
- Freeways, Suburbanization and SegregationThis article discusses why freeways were made and how they contributed to ghettoes and segregation, focusing particularly on Los Angeles, California.
- San Francisco StreetcarsYou probably already know about the San Francisco Cable Cars. They are famous for carrying passengers over the steep Nob and Russian hills. Another historic way to get around the city of San Francisco is to take an F-...
Black History Month Poems Celebrate the Civil Rights Movement and Barack...Two poems discuss the Civil Rights Movement from the death of Emmett Till until the eve before Barack Obama's inauguration.- The Importance of Music and the Civil Rights Movement The Civil Rights Movement is one of the most important events in history. It was a forceful and collective movement to disband segregation and racial injustices. The people involved in the movement
- Rosa Parks: Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement
- Rosa Parks and the Bus Boycott
- Southern Woman Claims She Never Heard of the Civil Rights Movement
- Rosa Parks and Her Life After the Alabama Bus Boycott
- The Back of the Bus: Why Rosa Parks Refused to Get Up
- Rosa Parks Bus: On Display at the Henry Ford Museum
- Rosa Parks Wasn't Alone in African-Americans' Cause
- Many people could now live away from the city center
- Transporation previously had been by horse-drawn carriage
- Buses finally took over from streetcars.