Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
TPL-2887
Date(s)
- 1890 (Creation)
Extent
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
ca. 1890. This early steam driven streetcar, circa 1890, was photographed travelling from downtown Tacoma through the North End to Point Defiance Park. The C Street Line was an early streetcar development built by Allen C. Mason and Nelson Bennett and it eventually extended to Point Defiance Park. The streetcar was printed with the name of the Point Defiance, Tacoma and Edison Railway Co. The railway company was only one of several small companies offering their own limited transportation systems. By 1898, most of the companies were having financial difficulties; and by 1899 the various lines were merged into the Tacoma Railway and Power Co. The Point Defiance Railroad Co. was franchised in 1889 to run a line to the Tacoma Smelter. It soon merged with a line to Edison (South Tacoma.) In July of 1892, the Point Defiance, Tacoma and Edison ran its first electric streetcar from Point Defiance Park to Edison (South Tacoma); a trip of twelve miles in one hour and twenty minutes. (T.Times 6/10/1938, pg. 15) G41.1-068 (also TPL-7990)
Mass transit--Tacoma--1890-1900; Street railroads--Tacoma--1890-1900; Point Defiance, Tacoma & Edison Railway Co. (Tacoma);