Early Horse Drawn Trolleys

“The first two-horse double-end car started on the Spring Street line in 1863….The Spring Street line’s operated from Clark Street along Spring thence to Congress, down Middle Street and to the Foot of India Street” (Portland Evening Express, 1941).

Before there were electricity and automobiles people used horse drawn trolley cars to get around the city.  The disadvantages include as you can imagine include open car rides in inclement weather and riding behind horses and the scent of horses and the messes they leave behind.

Electric Car Trolleys

More trolley lines were added over the next forty years that include: “the Congress Street line that operated from Atlantic to Vaughan Street, in 1864 and the last one, the Saco and Old Orchard line in 1901-1902.  The Deering line was electrified in 1891 and the city lines changed to electricity in 1895” (Portland Evening Express, 1941).

As soon as electricity became available it was put into use for the public transportation, to power the trolley lines, people used the trolleys for many reasons, to get to work, to go shopping and to get around town.  This transportation service allowed people who could afford to, to move farther away from the center of the city, thus contributing to sprawl and further development of the outlying areas of the city.

Photo courtesy of Chad Gilley

Riverton Trolley Park

The Portland railroad Company, the owners of the trolleys, wanted to expand service to include weekends, one way to do this was to create a destination for people to want to visit on their day off, for many that day would be Sunday.  Thus the approximately forty-acre Riverton Trolley Park was created in the Deering district of Portland on the border of the Presumpscot River. 

People would get dressed in their Sunday best and take the trolley out of town to the Riverton Trolley Park.  There they could stroll about in the beautiful and very green park, picnic on the lawns, visit the Casino where there were dining halls, a card room complete with games of all sorts, a reading library, a large dance hall, an outdoor theatre, and an orchestra that played afternoon and evening concerts in the casino and theatre.  There was also plenty to enjoy outside the casino with boat rides down the river, floral displays throughout the grounds of the park, and live animals for viewing.  “A visit to Portland is not complete without a visit to this charming resort” (Portland Railroad Company).

People have arrived on the trolley to visit the park and enjoy themselves for an afternoon or an entire day.

Photo courtesy of Jeff Tarling, and the Parks and Recreation Department, City of Portland

Photo courtesy of Jeff Tarling, and the Parks and Recreation Department, City of Portland