Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938 Page: 48 of 264
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• i
Av'Ci tTYPni T—nCJV> x ivti A Aomuiiiiiju oununx
Street Car System Bumped Along
By FRED POST
Remember when the city of Am -
rlllo operated the street car system?
It was another of those "noble ex-
periments" and cost the city more
than $10,000 a year for three years.
In the early days utility franchises
were being grajited right and left
fctf Amarillo.
Among the first street car fran-
chises wa« one issued April 11. 1006
C. C. Harris, John L. Brock, "their
associates, successors and assigns."
In the previous February the city
had requested its attorney to draft
a franchise for a street railroad
to be built by E, S. Alnutt.
But the story of municipal oper-
ation .f the street cars!
As city manager, J. G. Colby in
his annual rpport. submitted to the
commission. April 18, 1921 tells part
Of the story.-
"In order to give a complete his-
tory of the suspension of the street
railway service and the negotiations
between the city and G. Gordon
Brownell for the purpose of leasing
or purchasing the system, it is
necessary to start from the very be-
ginning!
'On October IP. 1317 the Amarillo
; treet Railway discontinued opera-
tion on instruction received by Guy
W. Faller, special master, from G.
Gordon Brownell of Westfield. N. J.
The city commission immediately
entered into negotiations with Mr.
Brownell for the purchase of the
property. Failing in this, on Feb-
ruary 18, 1919 and May 27, 1919
agreements were entered into be-
tween the city and Mr. Brownell
for the municipal operation of the
system and on July 5, 1920 the city
took over the management and
operation after the system had been
onst.ruc.ted in accordance with
le se contracts."
The owner spent $11,500 In re-
RTanging the line prior to turning
the property over to th city.
The then city manager added:
"On July 5. 1920 operation of the
Amarillo Street Railway was re-
sumed under the city's management,
the cash fare of 10 cents and ticket
fare of seven cents being adopted.
Four cars were operated; three on
Jackson and Lincoln loops and the
North Side-Glenwood car. On Jan-
uary 15. 1921 the fifth car was put
in operation."
The report shows that for that
nine months the expenditures were
morr than $1,000 over and above re-
ceipts.
Back in 1916 the city was insist-
ing that the street car sytsem do its
part of street improving. The com-
pany wanted to put gravel instead
of paving between the rails and on
August 29, 1916 a committee ap-
peared before the commission to ask
leniency for the street railway.
But say the minutes:
The commission stated the street
railway company had made no offer
to any city official to do anything,
but that they had stated the mat-
ter was entirely in the hands of the
federal courts to say what should be
done tl at the officers of the com-
pany' had lost control of the prop-
erty bv reason of the receivership
oroceedings and were therefore in
r.o position to make any proposals
to the city officials whatever.
The situation was becoming wna-
Is described as "tense" along in the
faon° August 27 of that year the
"i^urinnhfsession J. E. Lewis a
civil engineer of Dallas appeared
before the commission and stated
that he was in Amarillo for the pur
tions were presented to the city had orders to grade the street* over
commission about the street car sys-
tem,
and J. E. Ritchey Informed the
commission Mr. Ritchey would put
the street railway system in good
running order and repair with an
appropriation of $20,000. They were
directed to draw up some practical
plans for presentation to the com-
mittee.
The Board of City Development,
which the new line would go from
In June of 1919 Guy Fuller ^Seventeenth and Jackson to Nine-
teenth and Polk and adding:
"There was no other reason fror
grading Nineteenth and Twenty-
fourth at the time other than lor
this purpose."
At long last, however, the city got
in the street car business, signing a
lease for three years and then came
v
ffA.
dead
END
HERE WAS A "NOBLE EXPERIMENT" that cost the
city of Amarillo more than $10,000 a year for three
years.
1
IP
of the proceeds of the first year's
rental on the railway system.
The city was buying supplies and
equipment:, charging for advertis-
ing inside and outside of the cars,
hearing demands from motormen
for more pay and listening to claims
for damages and loss. One claim
was for $175 for a cow that had been
struck and killed by a street car.
Subscriptions and subscription
r.otes had been pledged to the city
prior to its undertaking the exten-
sion and operation of the street rail-
way line, and on April 14, 1923, the
city commission was ready to collect
even if it was necessary to institute
court action. And—
"Upon motion of Commissioner
Trolinger, seconded by Commission-
er Armstrong and unanimously car-
ried and adopted, It was ordered
that the city manager be and he is
hereby instructed to notify in writ-
ing immediately by registered letter
each person who promised to pay
find subscribe money to defray the
expenses in starting and operating
(he street cars in Amarillo and that
the operation of said street cars had
been suspended."
On June 16, 1923, the city com- :
mission met for the purpose of dls- !
cussing the street car issue with
citizens of Amarillo.
The "pay off" was the report of
the city manager .a report showing
the loss due to operating the system I
for three years was $39,102.47, not
including taxes for three years.
And what was more, the cast of ;
repairs necessary to continue opera-
tion after July 4 totaled $84,430.
Two weeks iater, however, a com-
mittee was before the commission
expressing the hope that cars could
be operated until after the "Tech-
nological committee" had been to
Amarillo.
The minutes of that date, June
30, 1923, says:
"A committee consisting of J. W.
Crudgington, Will A. Milier, Jr., F,
M. Rybtirn and W. H. Fuqua ap-
peared before the commission with
regards to continuing the street car
service. A telegram from G. Gordon
Brownell was read which stated that
they would permit the city to con-
tinue the service for 30 days without
binding the city in any way and
they would allow the city to use
the system without compensation
for that time. After considerable
discussion with regard tn the physi-
cal condition of the street car sys-
tem and an explanation by Mr.
Doolev, as representative of Mr.
Brownell. Mr. Fuqua requested that
the city continue to operate at least
one of the cars until August 1 and
operate" three cars from that time
until after the Technological com-
mittee has been in Amarillo, and
operate one car from that time until
the first of September."
days previous to A. W. Joiner.
letter:
"You and T. F. Turner were in
my office this morning and Mr.
Tinner advised me that the prop-
erty of the Amarillo Street Railway
Company, except the real estate,
had been purchased by you and
that you would lomove same from
the streets and wanted to know the
requirements of the city in the re-
moval of this property. I called In
the city engineer, H. B. Jones, and
the following is what we all agreed
upon:
"The entire clearing from the
streets of all rails, ties, poles, wires
and other equipment., either on,
under or over the streets, except
on unimproved streets where the
ties are imbedded to a depth that
will not interfere with the proper
grading and maintenance of streets;
on the parkway from Tenth to
Twenty-fourth on South Polk
Street, the. rails to be removed and
the ties to be left: on all paved
streets, no disturbance of rails or
ties that will damage the paving;
where rails are removed all spikes
must be pulled."
Meanwhile another street car
system, the San Jacinto line oper-
ated by the Amarillo Traction Com-
pany, had been losing money.
W. W. Lynch, as secretary, treas-
| urer and manager of the traction
Company on July 26, 1926 informed
° the city commission he did not want
to protest proposed paving of Sev-
enth Avenue, but asked that a hear-
ing on the improvement be deferred
so the directors might determine
whether or not they will surrender
their franchise. He explained the
line had been operating at a deficit
ever since its existence, the deficit
up to January 1, 1926 being $73,913.
H • further stated the line had a
junk value of not more than $4,000.
On August 10, 1926 the traction
company surrendered its street car
franchise and applied for a bus
franchise.
Buses had replaced the street
cars.
Back in the "good old days" and
before the city Insisted that the
street cars continue operation, the
company on October 27, 1914 asked
for permission to put benches at
street corners, where pr/rons might
rest while waiting.
On February 20, 1913 the city had
agreed to an extension of street car
service to Glenwood addition, owned
' V. A. Nobles, a line having been
extended there in 1907.
Among the other franchises for
street car service was one issued
June 9, 1910 to N. A. Brown. It
as for 25 years and gave him per-
mission to build what was known
nerally as the Sa i Jacinto line.
It was on August 17, 1916 that the
commission began wrangling with
the street railway company over
paying for pavement and finally
adopted a resolution assessing the
costs.
Jess Wynne, Pampa; "The town
of Clarendon got Its name from Mrs.
Clarendon Carhart, wife of L. H.
Carhart. The accent should be
placed on the second syllable."
Car Body Shop
A young man working for a tank
manufacturing firm which also did
some automobile radiator repair
work some 22 years ago visloned
the need for such a specialized
business in Amarillo and opened
the Plains Radiator Shop.
That was E. B. Hewitt, and his
place of business whs located at 115
East Fourth Avenue. He did all
of his own work.
It was that business which grew
and expanded, progressing with the
needs of the automotive Industry,
until It developed into what is now
Works,
Third Avenue and Polk Street. In
1834, Durham bought this business
also and merged it with his own,
changing the name of the combined
business to Amarillo Plains Body
Works.
Durham employs a staff of eight
skilled workmen who specialize In
repairing wrecked automobiles,
straightening fenders, automobile
painting, upholstering and top re-
i pairing. They also Install new glasa
In automobile doors and windows,
and clean, repair and recore auto
radiators.
A wrecker service is maintained.
The Amarillo Plains Body Works
occupies its own brick and tile
building, 60 by 120 feet in dimen-
sions and affording ample space
the Amarillo Plains Body
at 812 Buchanan Street. Tom E. j for the various departments.
Durham, Jr., is the present owner
and manager.
Five years after Mr. Hewitt
opened his original business, he
moved to a larger location in the
500-block on Tyler Street and
changed his firm name to Plains
Radiator, Fender and Body Shop.
In 1926, he erected his own build-
ing at 812 Buchanan Street, and
In March,
purchased by Durham.
Meanwhile, the Amarillo Body
Works has opened for business at
Bill Stafford of Dobbs City says
water dogs used to be much more
plentiful in the Panhandle than
now. "At Goose Tank on the Mata-
dors I've seen a thousand of these
jualotas come out of the water when
a west wind was blowing. Don't
know why they did It at that parti-
cular time. If you'd dig a hole and
1929 the business was build a fire In it, all of 'em would go
into that hole hunting heat. They
were cold and slimy, and always
hunted heat."
Mr. Bellamy, the superintendent,
thought it might be done, but he
also "stated that he has no mate-
rial of any kind and will have to
depend upon borrowing from the
San Jacinto line and the railroads
in order to run the cars a day long-
er for the operation of Saturday,
June 30, was practically impassible."
The Technological committee, In-
in reality a tax-supported chamber the old City Light and Water Com- i cidentally, was to decide "which
of commerce, took a hand in the pany with its agreement to furnish j town is to get the college." Lub-
END OF THE LINE in San Jacinto for one of Ama-
rillo's early street cars. Beside the trolley on the snow
banks stand the late W. W. Lynch, then manager of
the Amarillo Traction Company, and his son-in-law,
George Waddill, Potter school board business man-
ager.
matter and were "cross wires" with
t' e commission.
M. Ramsey, as secretary of the
Board of City Development, wrote
to the commission In part:
"It has been called to the atten-
tion of the Board of City Develop-
ment that no action whatever had
sufficient and adequate electrical I bock 6°' it. although the city had
energy from its plant situated at
First and Tyler Street for the pur-
pose of operating the street cars for
the flat rate of $150 per car per av-
erage month of 30 days of 16 V4
hours per day.
Mr. Brownell executed a note and
- ; been taken by the city commission as security it was agreed by the city,
of o'lacinz his bid at the sale ; for the completion of the contracts May 24, 1920 ,to pay the bank out
of^the Amarillo' Street Railway, for rehabilitation of the street car
which is to be sold at Sheriff's sale system and that no work has been
in Amarillo Tuesday, September 4. done on the street railway system
1917 Mr Lewis made it plain it slnce the offer of support made
■was his intention if he was the sue- by the board at their meeting on
cessful bidder to take up the track 1 August 11."
and equipment of the railway com- To wWch Jflff Bartlett as city
pany and remove same from Am a- manager r€piietj in part that action
rillo to be sold as junk. It was tne takon by the Board oI cityDevelop-
consensus of opinion that the com- . ment jn the matter would In the
mission would not under any^clr- opinion of the city commission
"seriously handicap if not entirely
agreed to operate the street cars
until after the committee had come
and gone.
Early in 1924 the street car sys-
tem operated by the city was about
ready to pass out of the picture,
for on January 29, 1924, the city
manager, Jeff Bartlett, had read
Into the minutes his letter of three
cumstances permit the discontinu-
snce of operation and remova defeat the purpose of this commif-
the street railway from A™® ' Lsion to furnish street car transpor-
commission wen, __ tat ion to the citizens of Amarillo."
The city
OH Lcii-lUll l U lii«2 l llJ/cIla /MlidJ Jii*J.
special railed session, October 20, c Managrr Bartlett had pre-
1917, because the Amarillo Street vjousj ou iine(, what work had
Railway had suspende P • j been done, explaining Twenty-
Guy W. Faller appear d b1 - ' _ fourth Avenue from Polk to Lincoln
commission as sper^* ^ ^ stated 'hac! 1>ePn eraded in preparation for
the railwav company
after the. sale of the property to G.
Gordon Brownell he had received a
telegram to discontinue service.
• • •
"The citv of Amarillo desires to
purchase the physical properties of
the Amarillo Street RallwRy Com-
pany. Advise what you will accept
in cash therefor" was the telegram
the commission sent to Mr. Brown-
ell. who was addressed at "Plain-
field" instead of Westfield, N. J.
And that night the commission
met again, adopting a resolution "to
determine to own, operate and
maintain the street railway sys-
tem." The city officials even pub-
lished a "That The Public May
Know" in The Amarillo Daily
News of October 21. In the adver-
tisement the officials explained
steps had been taken to procure
continued service of street car- and
that the city had in no wise been
consulted or informed of what
moves would be made."
The city offered $25,000 for the
system, but Mr. Brownell contended
the junk value alone was $150,000.
The city Immediately passed an
ordinance repealing the franchise
rights of the street car company.
Officials took action to prevent Mr.
Brownell from removing the track-,
an action which h<> protested by
letter under date of February 5,
1918.
Just a year later, February 4, 1919,
It was recorded in the minutes
book:
"The greater part of this meet-
ing was consumed by the commis-
sion with a large delegation of citl-
7^ns Including Messrs. J. F„ Hughes,
F. I. Pittman and others interested
in the operation of the Amarillo
Street Railway and the proposed
extension of the railway on Madison
Street."
Late the next month the city au-
thorized signing of a contract to
lease the railway system, paying 10
per cent of an estimated $80,000
value, but Mr. Brownell on April 5,
1919. found the contract unac-
ceptable and asked two years' lease
at $5,000 a year clear to him and
without doing any repairs to the
system,
Mayor Marrs, Commissioners Caz-
zell and Trolinger had been re-
elected.
All sorU of offers and proposi-
j the road bed for the new car line,
that the street car commissioner
We congratulate the old timers who are cele-
brating their 50th Anniversary . . .
HOUSEOFWONDERS
We BUY and SELL
Second Hand Merchandise
1713 West 6th —'Amarillo — Phone 5502
Not Our Fiftieth Anniversary
BU'
Our Personnel has been
continuously engaged in
the construction business
for
OVER 25 YEARS
RANDALL CONSTRUCTION COMPANY INC.
GENERAL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
AMARILLO BUILDING
AMARILLO, TEXAS.
J. D. CAZZEL
Est. March 1912
Auto Trimming and Upholstery
Furniture Upholstery
We feature at all times some excellent
bargains in renewed furniture.
QUALITY, SERVICE AND SATISFACTION
FOR OVER A QUARTER CENTURY.
620 Wes) 6th St.
Phone 2-2524
Since 1926 *
A Plumbing Store
at Your Door
'kttumii
it
Repair Work a Specialty"
ZACK McCRADY
Amarillo, Texas
Phone 4071
2818 W. 6fh
The "OLD FREIGHTER
11
w a s
s I o w
...but that
was fifty
years agol
*1
The New 44TRUCK"
is fast.
jjmsm
^ WAprr
j TULfA.
O. FEE 3 5
OLTON
that is today!
I
OK LA CfTY
TUL!>A
3T LOUI5
CITY
■A.K/tA.RILT.0
FIFTY
YEARS.
. . . have made a whale of a dif-
ference to everyone and every-
thing! Motor Freight is keep-
ing pace with modern demands
for safe, swift transportation of
all kinds. The Dalby Motor
Freight lines serve a great ter-
ritory, and a great people. We
are proud of our record, and
pledge the next fifty years to
a constantly Improved service!
"*«tu '■ O CKHIV
BEST WISHES
TO
ALL PEOPLE
... In the whol*
Plains Region. May
your next fifty yeari
be prosperouil
IIALt C MTIB
I S.HVTHV •
lOVIMGTON
tAl UM
ROSWLU.
MO Wtot
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MIA
tROVJNfl I LT>
HAOR AV13
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3IMIMOW
lUVTtt
AWpnv/t
wim
PHOtN?*
JVCTTL
OYAH
MATACftft
COMt
cfioswrTou.
OICKLU*
OTR A**
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vrAMrop.?
f r WORTH
S">4 DA LLA&
T HOUSTOI
TT. WORTH
DALL A
HOU1T O M
tifty Mttor Fritifrt Li«a
LakkMk-EI Fit* Motor FriltH In*
>UAV4AM ___
o0jaM%
mi ii ii i ■ i i ii u\ mm
MOTOR FREICHT
Best Wishes to all the People in the Plains Region
V
Rev
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Amarillo Sunday News-Globe (Amarillo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 33, Ed. 1 Sunday, August 14, 1938, newspaper, August 14, 1938; Amarillo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth299921/m1/48/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hutchinson County Library, Borger Branch.