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presents

The Roads and Rails of Mercer County, WV /

Streetcars

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Imagine stepping onto a trolley on Princeton Avenue in Bluefield, and being whisked in electrified silence through the hills to the Princeton courthouse square. Imagine being able to ride from your house to entertainment districts, department stores, and railway facilities enabling a one-shot ticket to the Atlantic coast...no need for parking, no need to own a car.

This world isn't a fantasy. For thousands of people who lived in Mercer County during the early twentieth century, it was an everyday reality.

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At the turn of the century, Bluefield was exploding in population hand over fist and rapidly emerging as a significant Appalachian metropolitan centre. But the city was confined by geography. The residential area of South Bluefield was separated by distance from the core of the city, with a small mountain in the way. Downtown Bluefield was spread out in line along the East River Valley. Getting around on foot was quite a challenge, especially given the dirt streets, steep grades, and horse droppings that were everyday hazards.

The solution to the city's challenges were electric streetcars. 1903 saw the incorporation of the Bluefield & Hinton Electric Railway Company...a name that hinted at lofty expansion dreams that never quite materialized. Wires and tracks were laid, and by the following year Bluefieldians were enjoying Mercer County's first public transit streetcar system. Princeton would soon follow suit, with the Princeton Power Company inaugurating its service in 1909. The Bluefield line initially used Brill streetcars, while the Princeton line used vehicles built by the Cincinnati Car Company of Ohio.

The next piece of the puzzle was to unite the systems together. More track was laid, and in 1916 Bluefield and Princeton were bridged by a 13-mile (21-kilometre) interurban line operated by the Princeton Power Company as an outgrowth of its urban trolley. The line also passed through the small communities along the way, including Glenwood and Ceres.

In its early years, Bluefield's trolley system was repeatedly bounced from one owner to another. The Bluefield & Hinton Electric Railway was succeeded first by the Bluestone Traction Company, then by Appalachian Power, then by Princeton Power, operator of the interurban. The final sale placed all of Mercer County's streetcars under common ownership and a consistent fare structure, and Princeton Power renamed itself the Tri-City Traction Company in 1928.

These were the glory years of rail transportation in Mercer County...and alas, they didn't last. By the twenties the automobile had become entrenched, allowing rural residents a degree of mobility they didn't have before...and adding congestion to city streets. Trolleys that would have zipped along in the horse-and-buggy days were now being tied up in traffic by Model Ts. Service became less timely, less convenient...and ridership suffered.

Even though streetcars were a public service that the vast majority of residents benefited from, Tri-City Traction wasn't a publicly-owned agency: It was a private company, focused on the next quarter above all else. As ridership declined, profits declined and maintenance was deferred. Meanwhile, the infrastructure was rapidly ageing. Replacement of rails, wires, and vehicles would soon be necessary...and a huge capital expenditure was the last thing that the company was eager to commit.

In 1936, the death knell came when Tri-City Traction announced that it would transition to "modern" buses. The company defended the change, touting the advantage of buses in allowing service to be expanded without need for infrastructure...but the benefits to commuters ended there. Buses were smaller, noisier, rougher-riding, and more polluting than the streetcars they replaced. And they didn't solve the problem of street congestion, which remained an issue without resolve.

With the writing on the wall, the streetcar lines began to be shut down one by one. Bluefield city service ended in January 1939; Princeton continued through September 1940. The interurban was the last to go, offering cross-county service until April 1947. After 43 years, the trolley era of Mercer County was over at last.

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Points of interest

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Princeton

Princeton's streetcar system went online in 1909 and was laid out in an end-to-end manner, with the west terminus being located on the courthouse square. Tracks bore east on Main Street, then turned north to cover Mercer Street, bending at the Center Street intersection in the heart of downtown. The line terminated at the Virginian Depot, covering 1.8 kilometres of distance.

Near the east end, a short spur deviated southward alongside 3rd Street, likely providing a turnaround for the track. The Princeton Power Company's car barn was also on 3rd Street, just north of the Mercer Street intersection.

The streetcar did not serve the east side of Princeton. If the Athens extension (below) had been completed, it's likely that service would have been extended eastward over Kee Street to the city limits.

A: In the 2000s, a 13-metre section of pavement on the east end of Mercer Street was removed to reveal original brick paving and parallel conduits that once held metal tracks. (Photo by the author, 2013.)

B: Another vestige of the system exists on Main Street, where two metal poles stand with ornate crossbars at the top. These crossbars were originally brackets for the web of overhead wires that provided electricity to the streetcars below. (Photos by the author, 2013.)

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Princeton-Bluefield Interurban

The longest and most strategic segment of Mercer County's streetcar system was undoubtedly the 21-kilometre Princeton-Bluefield Interurban railway, providing speedy conveyance between both of the area's major cities. It entered service in 1916 and was the last segment to remain in operation, surviving until just after World War II.

The interurban had a diagonal alignment, running alongside the prevailing Princeton-Bluefield Road (now the Old Princeton-Bluefield Road) for most of its distance. Trolleys began their journey alongside the Mercer County Courthouse, bearing south on Walker Street to the Princeton city limits. The tracks then took a serpentine turn alongside Brush Creek, following a newly-constructed course on level grading. This segment is now part of CR 19/29.

After deviating to its own course for 1.5 kilometres, the track rejoined the vehicular road at Glenwood, following it south through Maple Acres, Green Valley, Ceres, Edison, Maple View, and finally Stony Gap. Many pre-existing road segments were straightened or graded in the midst of construction, and represent portions of Maple Acres Road (CR 19/33), Airport Road (WV 123), Mercer Mall Road (CR 25), Streetcar Road (CR 25/10), and Old Princeton Road (also CR 25) today.

After clearing Stony Gap, the interurban line crossed the N&W tracks and followed Princeton Avenue west to a terminus near the Norfolk & Western depot, where it interfaced with Bluefield's pre-existing city streetcar system. Apart from rises in downtown Princeton, Stony Gap, and downtown Bluefield, the route was remarkably level.

C: At the site of today's US 19/US 460 intersection, the streetcar track deviated from the vehicular road for 1.5 kilometres, continuing alongside Brush Creek to the community of Glenwood. Utility lines continue to parallel this course, and a portion (blue arrow) is signed as "Tri-City Road."

Remnants of the interurban right-of-way are visible on the east end of this deviation, where the track crossed Brush Creek via two bridges. Though the spans are gone, remnants of the bridge abutments are still visible. The right-of-way is also used by utilities, and pipes and overhead wires both continue to run in alignment with the streetcar's course. (Photos by the author, 2013.)

D: The track rejoined the road in Glenwood, at the west end of the deviation. Note the early 45-degree crossbuck sign, and the power poles used to mount cantilevers for the overhead wires. (Postcard, early 20th century.)

Unlike on the east end, none of the infrastructure in this scene is readily visible today. The historic road bridge over Brush Creek was replaced and the turn straightened by the 1980s. The road itself carried either WV 4, US 19, or WV 71 in the streetcar era; today, it's part of Maple Acres Road (CR 19/33).

E: The second-highest elevation of the line was at Stony Gap, near today's Mercer Mall entrance. The construction of US 460 Corridor Q in the 1970s obliterated most traces of this portion of the line. (Postcard, early 20th century.)

Further west of the scene, an interurban streetcar passes over the N&W tracks alongside the Princeton-Bluefield Road. This picture was probably taken facing south from the north abutment of the bridge, which has long been replaced. (Postcard, early 20th century.)

An actual Princeton-Bluefield interurban rollsign that appeared on eBay in 2014.

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Bluefield

Bluefield's streetcars were the first to enter service in Mercer County, and were routed in a Y-shaped course circumnavigating the city's steep terrain. The system covered at least 5.4 kilometres at bare minimum. Some newspapers give vague references to service extending into West Graham, Virginia (now Bluefield, Virginia), suggesting the total course amounted to 9 kilometres or more.

In the system's original configuration, streetcar service began at Lee Street at Bluefield's northeast edge. The tracks then followed Princeton Avenue southeast; passing the Norfolk & Western railway depot, a branch junction at Bland Street, and Bluefield's downtown core. After jogging one-half block south at Mercer Street, the tracks continued along Bluefield Avenue through to at least Thorn Street. The routing and extent of the line west of this point is unclear, as it's not included on any readily-available topographic maps.

Downtown Bluefield was linked to residential neighbourhoods in South Bluefield through a streetcar branch line following Bland Street. The trolley tracks then turned southwest on College Avenue, continuing until reaching a terminus at Walton Avenue.

Bluefield's car barn was located on Poplar Street, and is not known to have survived.

F: Two views of the Princeton Avenue streetcar line, from photo postcards of the early 20th century. The first image was taken facing west at Summers Street (with the N&W passenger depot in the background), while the second was taken facing east at Federal Street (then called Higginbotham Avenue). Almost none of the buildings survive.

G: The Bland Street streetcar line, as seen facing north at Scott. A barely-visible wire runs overhead. Again, few of the buildings survive. (Photo postcard, early 20th century.)

H: Interestingly, topographic maps of the teens show that the portion of the College Avenue line between River and Walton Avenues was built before the street itself had been built next to it! By the 1920s, College Avenue had been extended through to the Virginia state line.

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Athens extension (unfinished)

I: Mercer County's streetcar system successfully connected most of the area's urban and semi-urban population. It's wistful to note that it could have connected even more.

In the teens, a proposal was hatched to extend trolley service from Princeton northeast to the town of Athens, home of the Concord State Normal School. This proposal wasn't just bluster: The 1913 USGS Bluefield topographic map has a crossed line from Athens to Princeton marked "PROPOSED ELECTRIC RR," and grading was actually completed. Yet the Athens streetcar line was never finished, and never operated. What happened?

Though I'm unclear on the exact details, it's reasonable to suppose that construction ground to a halt during the 1913-14 recession...which was soon followed by the Great War. The streetcar line was deleted from the 1916 revision of the USGS Bluefield map. By the time the Armistice of 1918 finally rolled around and peacetime construction could resume, automobiles clogged the streets and the days of insatiable streetcar growth were over.

The route of the Athens streetcar line did go on to become a major transportation link...but not in the way it was intended. In 1922, its grading was reused for the course of newly-commissioned West Virginia Route 20 in Mercer County, replacing the steeper-graded Old Athens Road. Aside from being renumbered "44" for a few years in the '30s and '40s, it remains as such today.

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