AFTER THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, TROLLEY’S BECAME ELECTRIFIED AND CORSICANA’S rail system was changed to accommodate more streets to provide transportation for residents.

According to a very reliable source in Corsicana history … Mr. Ron Maxfield, who is also the first person you would want to talk to when it comes to the history of the Interurban as well as other facts related to Corsicana, the first known source of public transportation was what is referred to as an Omnibus in the 1870s.

An Omnibus was basically a trolley body on wagon wheels.

Maxfield said one of the main reasons trolleys were shaped as they were was the basic body design was held over from the days of the wagon wheels, and that is the reason the body tapers to the bottom.

The earliest rail car was established in 1888, as part of a Mule Car system consisting of six Brill built cars and 28 mules. A pair of mules was rotated for each car, and tracks were laid for four and one-quarter miles.

HORSE DRAWN TROLLEYS WERE USED IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE CORSICANA TRANSIT SYSTEM as depicted by this picture taken before the turn of the Twentieth Century in downtown Corsicana on Beaton Street.

The route started on South Beaton Street between West Seventh Avenue and West Third Avenue, and turned west on Third. The route continue in a westerly direction along the front of the courthouse onward towards the – what was then known as – outer boundaries of west Corsicana. The route sort of meandered in a southeast direction until it reached West Collin Street and headed back east until it reached South 15^th Street.

As Maxfield pointed out, this was, back then, a very long route that covered a lot of residential areas at the time.

After the route reached South 15^th Street the tracks turned toward West Seventh Avenue, and

proceeded east on Seventh until reaching Beaton Street, which completed the Western loop.

Yes, I did say Western loop.

Over a period of time there would also be loops covering all directions at one time or the other during the life of the transit system.

There was a spur of track that also turned north from Third Avenue onto North 15^th Street, and

dead-ended at City (Jester) Park in front of Oakwood Cemetery’s main gate.

At the intersection of West Seventh and South Beaton, there was another line that went east, crossing the H & T.C. Railroad (Houston and Texas Central) – known as the Union Pacific Railroad crossing today – and into the eastern section of the city before turning south on Benton Street.

Maxfield said this was the only time a street rail line ventured east of Beaton Street.

During that time period, the southeastern end of Corsicana was a prosperous white community with its own school known then as the East Side School (latter called Crocket).

The Mule system was known as the Corsicana Street Railway Company.

In 1901, a franchise was granted for the Corsicana Transit Company to build an electric railway, thus giving the mules some much needed rest after years of pulling streetcars around … and people on board!

The franchise was granted in March of that year, and was suppose to be good for 50 years.

Eventually, all of the mule car tracks were pulled up and a new route, measuring 3.75 miles, was laid and a trolley car storage barn was built where the TXU Energy storage lot is located now on the corner of West Seventh Avenue and South 12^th Street.

The new route proceeded east on Seventh Avenue and turned north on Beaton Street. It then turned west on Sixth Avenue and then north on Main Street before making its way west on Fifth Avenue.

The route seemed to zigzag through the downtown, as indicated so far, before turning north on Thirteenth Street and then west on Third Avenue at the southwest corner of the courthouse.

Maxfield stated there is no record where the trolley proceeded after this point, and no map has been found to indicate further advancement. The only thing documented is the length of the route, but he has been able to study various photographs and pieced together most of the route through them.

In 1912, the Southern Traction Company purchased the Corsicana Transit Company and completely pulled up the tracks and rerouted the system marking the third, and last time the route would be changed.

The new route followed the same path from the barn to Beaton Street, sharing the same section of track with the Interurban on Beaton and one block of the track on Seventh Avenue, and continued to proceed north to Third Avenue and turned west on Third – at this point, the latest route used the same path the original mule line used – proceeding to as far as 28 ½ Street where it dead-ended.

The motorman would reverse the direction of the pole to head back east. This was called the Third Avenue line.

There was also a cross section of track located at the intersection of Third Avenue and Fifteenth Street.

Another section of the line left the barn heading west on Seventh and turned south on Fifteenth. The line would then turn west on Thirteenth and pass in front of Travis Elementary School, before turning north on 20^th Street.

Not too far down 20^th, the line would turn east on Summit, eventually re-connecting with the line

on Fifteenth, and head back into the downtown area.

This was called the Mineral Hill loop, which was the name of that section of community in Southwest Corsicana during that time period.

For those of you that are particular on what color the cars were painted, and what companies produced the cars, in order to give a more visual effect, Maxfield was delighted to reveal those details.

“The transit line consisted (after it was electrified) of four single truck trolleys made by the St. Louis Car Company,” he said. “After a fire destroyed the car barn, in which two of the St. Louis Car’s were destroyed, the city purchased two Danville double truck cars numbered five and six. A new concrete car barn was built, and a short time later, the two Danville cars were eventually sold to the City of Sherman because the curve radius was too tight in here for the longer built cars. As far as the color and appearance of the cars, the St. Louis cars were red, white and yellow. The Danville cars were yellow with red lettering. When Southern Traction bought the transit company they added a number of Birny Cars, and painted the remaining St. Louis cars dark green with red trim like the Interurban cars.”

Sadly, with the mass production of automobiles, the transit company was eventually faded out, and closed up shop somewhere around 1931.

As indicated in previous articles, the Interurban would follow suit a few years later, leaving Corsicana without a viable mode of public transportation to date.

City Manager Connie Standridge has indicated recently she would not rule out seeing a short stretch of rail, possibly in the downtown area, for trolley service for the purpose of historic novelty, but would not be in favor of having a citywide trolley service.

Two reasons pointed out was money, and who would maintain the service.

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