In The Early 1900s, Trolley Cars Rolled Through The Streets Of Salt Lake City, Utah
By Catherine Armstrong|Published May 09, 2020
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Catherine Armstrong
Author
Writer, editor and researcher with a passion for exploring new places. Catherine loves local bookstores, independent films, and spending time with her family, including Gus the golden retriever, who is a very good boy.
TRAX moves a lot of people from one end of the Salt Lake Valley to the other every year. Our light rail system opened in December, 1999, but it wasn’t Salt Lake’s first mass transit system. In fact, most Utahns are probably unaware that half of Salt Lake City residents took mass transit every day back in 1914. That’s right…that year people took 38.9 million trolley rides.
Some Utahns might remember the trolley cars that rolled through the streets of Salt Lake City. The rest of us can only imagine! Check out these old trolley car photos from the past:
Back in the late 1800s, the streets of Salt Lake City were muddy, and mules and wagons transported residents from one place to another.
One entrepreneur started the very first trolley system, which involved a mule pulling a wagon along tracks. It was expensive to ride, and very slow.
In the 1890s, Salt Lake City began lighting up. Electricity was in town, and it brought all kinds of technology upgrades, including an electric trolley system.
Long before Trolley Square became a shopping center, it served as a garage for trolley cars. The garage was part of the massive upgrade, which also included another 80 miles of track and brand new, steel streetcars.
The new trolley system still had its problems. Sometimes the cars fell off the tracks, or the overhead wires broke. The unheated cars were also freezing cold during the winter months.
By the 1941, only one trolley remained. The last line stretched ran from the intersection of 900 S. 1300 E. up to the University of Utah, and it closed up in 1946.
You can learn more about Salt Lake City's trolley system at the Trolley History Museum at Trolley Square.
