Inter-urban trolley lasted 30 years

By Mat Rapacz

Another type of travel by rail through the valley didn’t last very long. The electric trolley started in Little Falls in 1903 with great fanfare, a convenient and, for awhile at least, popular way to travel between Little Falls and points west and south. Only three decades later, trolleys had become a nuisance to most people, in the way of the king of the streets and roads, namely the automobile.

On Wednesday, April 29, 1903, salutes were fired by the Adams cannon, the chimes of St. Mary’s church rang out, and school children waved handkerchiefs as a token of welcome by Little Falls to the inter-urban electric trolley. Utica and Mohawk Valley Railway Company officials and city officials rode the first trolley from the west and stopped for photos and inspection by the populace.

A stop was made on the concrete bridge where a photo was taken. Another stop was made at 1:19 p.m. at the power house at Small where five minutes was allowed for inspection. At 1:31 the car crossed the city line and local commercial photographers shot more photos. The car passed through John Street and a stop of about ½ hour was made on Main Street where all had the opportunity to examine the handsome car No. 24 labeled “Rome to Little Falls.” Then the trolley continued west, leaving the city at about 2:30.

Wednesday and Thursday, the cars were crowded with visitors to and from the city. Travel was also very great on Sunday. “The road is thoroughly well built and the company will doubtless give the best possible service,” The Evening Times reported.

1901 Laying trolley track

When the trolley was constructed, a number of Little Falls property owners were compensated for damages, ranging from $1,700 to Alvin Timmerman to $50 to Irena Marshall. The whole line cost about $3.5 million to build.

Fares were 5¢ to Burt Road, 5¢ more to Wilday’s Crossing, and an additional 5¢ to Mohawk. Round trip tickets to the transfer at Mohawk were issued at 25¢. Regular trips between Little Falls and Mohawk were about a half-hour long. Express cars were in the city daily at 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Frank Watts was the local agent with company office in the Dubois block. A temporary shed was erected at the intersection of John and Ann streets opposite the Evans house. Express rates were Utica to Little Falls 50 pounds or less, 20¢; 50-100 pounds, 25¢;  Herkimer to Little Falls 1-50 pounds, 15¢; 51-100 pounds, 25¢, including delivery. One of the trolley line’s car barns, later used by Holt Brothers automobile dealership, was located on West Main Street, Mohawk.

For some years after it was opened, the Little Falls – Rome trolley line did a flourishing business. The trolleys provided the most convenient medium of transportation between the valley communities and there was no indication that that the electric line had anything but a bright future ahead. Evelyn Spofford of Dolgeville recalled taking the trolley from Little Falls to Utica with her mother when she was 9-10 years old in 1917-18, once every two weeks or so, sometimes with an aunt. “She would take us on a shopping spree sometimes. That was a big deal — going up to Utica shopping,” Spofford said.

A 1982 article by Herkimer County Historian H. Paul Draheim said, in part: “The motormen and conductors who served on these lines were friendly folks and most generally greeted passengers on a first-name basis. Most of the patrons were either going to or coming from their jobs at the Remington plants in Ilion, the Union Fork and Hoe in Frankfort, and the various textile mills scattered in all of the communities.”

There were big plans by trolley companies to connect many more communities in the state. There was serious talk about constructing an electric rail line all the way from Ballston Spa to Little Falls and on to Richfield Springs. A land survey was made for a trolley route from Johnstown to Ephratah to Little Falls, but nothing ever came of it.

Trolley #24 and Trolley Station

The last trolley run from Little Falls left at 10:52 p.m. on June 30, 1933 for Utica. A car, in charge of motorman V.W. Rhodes and Conductor George Gray, went out of Little Falls virtually unnoticed and unmourned. The nine-mile trolley line from Herkimer to Jordanville (Southern New York line) also ceased service, but the Jordanville to Oneonta stretch continued for awhile.

Why did the trolley fail? Helped by an influx of immigrants, population in the Mohawk Valley was even greater in 1930 than in 1903. The answer is the automobile and its bigger cousin, the bus. Trolley company officials and probably few others foresaw that the automobile would not be just a novelty, that more and more families would be able to afford to own one. Why take a trolley when almost the same path could be taken at any time in an automobile and with no stops? Better roads to accommodate the auto were also a significant factor.

Bus lines quickly moved in to fill the transportation gap for those who had taken the trolleys. Central New York Coach Lines and the Peretta bus line vied for the Little Falls to Utica franchise. Central New York Coach Lines alone had 26 trips per day from 5:40 a.m. to 1:10 a.m.

With the trolley gone, there were advantages to Little Falls motorists. No longer would a parked trolley at the Main, John, and Alexander streets intersection block vision. No longer would trolleys on Main and John streets be in the way of traffic. One feature of the trolley remained to cause problems: the tracks. After a few more years of being a nuisance on the streets, the tracks in Little Falls were removed in the late 1930s.

Vestiges of the trolley are still around, like the bridge over West Canada Creek near Herkimer and a power station between Little Falls and Herkimer just off Route 5.