By Bobby Bice
September 1, 1906 marked a memorable event in Shinnston’s history when the first streetcar
arrived in town. It was common for crowds to gather and anxiously await the inaugural
appearance of a trolley. As evident by the accompanying image, photographers were also
setup and ready to capture this moment. I’ve seen photos of the first streetcar coming into
Grafton, Farmington, and Lumberport. Shinnston images are unique because ones were taken
of not only the first streetcar, but also the second one later that day. These streetcars came
from Fairmont. The one shown is an open-air style, but styles and sizes changed over the years.
In 1900, a Wheeling-based firm purchased the Fairmont Electric Light and Power Company
with the intent of building an electric railway transportation system similar to the one in
Wheeling. In March of the following year, Fairmont received northcentral WV’s first trolley car
transportation along a new electric rail line, which extended in that city for a distance of two
miles, from Madison to 12 th Streets.
Around the same time, Clarksburg organized its own electric railway company, which was then purchased by the same Wheeling firm that controlled Fairmont’s. The merger created an opportunity to extend travel beyond each city’s borders and connect the two with a 26 mile rail line transportation system. In 1903, the Wheeling firm sold their interests locally and the new owners established the business as the Fairmont and Clarksburg Traction Company.
That company began buying rights of way to further construct the system. Also, additional substation power houses were built, dedicated to the system.
After a few setbacks due to some leaning bridge piers, the line from Fairmont was finished into
Shinnston in July 1906 and extended another half mile south at that time. The streetcar tracks
never came into Shinnston proper, but rather stayed on the west side of the river and followed
the power lines.
On the west end of the old iron bridge, the north corner had the streetcar station and the south corner was a restaurant where people could grab a bite to eat while waiting on the next trolley. The streetcar station operated as a confectionary store and newsstand, which was operated for many years by Charles Brown, then later by Ralph Currey (father of the late Wilson Currey). Trolley tickets could be purchased here and there was a small canopy on the outside of the building where ticketholders could wait for the next trolley.
After the main line connected Fairmont to Clarksburg, branches were built to Fairview,
Mannington, Bridgeport, and Weston. There were several interurban systems in West Virginia,
but the extent of travel on our local line made it the state’s largest. Four trolley cars used the
first line in Fairmont in 1901, but 85 cars were using the full line to Clarksburg by December
- It took one hour and 43 minutes to go from Clarksburg to Fairmont, or vice versa, which
included 24 stops between the two cities. The service was reliable, the trolleys arrived
frequently, and the travel time was fairly quick, compared to traveling the same distance on dirt
roads by horse and wagon. Also, the service was cheap! Even into the 1930’s, a round-trip
“student fare” between Enterprise and Shinnston could be purchased for seven cents.
It was very common for nearly one hundred people to board the streetcar on a Saturday night
to arrive in Shinnston for activities downtown. Walking the sidewalks, hanging out at the soda
fountains in one of the drug stores, or watching a movie at one of the theatres in town were all
reasons to spend the evening in Shinnston.
In the early years, service was provided twice daily. As demand increased, the service was
more frequent, eventually providing half hour car stops. Passenger transportation wasn’t the
only use for the electric railway. Larger freight cars also arrived in town once a week to bring
supplies to local businesses. This included drop off and pick up of laundry services at the Hotel
Royal on Rebecca Street as well as other business that offered that service.
The cleaning services were provided by the American and Empire Laundry Companies of Clarksburg.
As automobiles were becoming more prevalent in society and roadways were getting paved,
the use of the trolley system began to dwindle slightly and modifications to the line were
needed. For instance, the branch line into Lumberport was discontinued for use in the early
1930’s.
Then too, Viropa and Riverdale, mining communities just north of Shinnston, no longer
operated their mines and didn’t have the community population to continue a stop there. Just
south of Shinnston, the mining community of Solon (located where Vincent Lumber is today)
was also no longer in operation. All three of these communities had pedestrian swinging
bridges over the river which provided residents with easy access to the streetcar stops. Solon’s
bridge connected to the Lucas Mills community (sometimes incorrectly referred to as Lucas
Mill) along the Wyatt Road.
Further south, there was also a pedestrian swinging bridge at Ziesing, now known as Spelter, that residents there could easily access the trolley system.
While the trolley cars served their intended purpose for many years, they were declared
obsolete by the economic boom during the years following World War II. The last line through
this area ran on April 27 th , 1947, proving that the youngest person alive today with a vivid
memory of riding the interurban would have to be well into their 80’s. The ownership had
passed through many hands, but City Lines of WV were the last ones to operate the system.
Other uses were found for some of the trolley cars. For example, the Sunset Drive-In Theatre
had its concession stand operated out of an old streetcar, which was eventually remodeled into
a freestanding restaurant that the Ellis Family operated for over 60 years. Other people made
homes out of the trolleys until their finances provided a more appropriate residence.
It’s an interesting learning experience to drive along Route 19 from Fairmont to Clarksburg and
find the old path of the electric railway system. There are some places, particularly in Fairmont,
where the old tracks can still be seen when the pavement gets worn enough. Bridge piers and
traction walls can also still be found! And that is this month’s story behind the photo.