Union Street Railway Company

A photo taken by Lewis Hine in 1911 with a streetcar in New Bedford.

The Union Street Railway Company (abbreviated Union St. Ry.) was a streetcar company centered in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It was formed from the New Bedford & Fairhaven Street Railway in 1887.[1] It started using electric streetcars in 1890.[1]

History

A streetcar on Purchase Street depicted on a postcard.

It operated a railway post office streetcar route connecting New Bedford and Fall River to the main railroad station in Providence, RI.[2][1] The whaling agent and merchant Jonathan Bourne Jr. (1811—1889) directed the Union Street Railway Company in addition to other ventures.[3]

As of 1901, it owned 31 miles of track in New Bedford and its suburbs and operated 70 cars in the summer and 39 in the winter.[4]

The Union Street Railway Carbarn, Repair Shop was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Union St. Ry. 34 - Seashore Trolley Museum". collections.trolleymuseum.org. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
  2. ^ "Union Street Railway RPO 302 – The Shore Line Trolley Museum – A Museum in Motion". Retrieved 2023-08-14.
  3. ^ Museum, New Bedford Whaling (2015). Treasures of the Whaling Museum: Touchstone to the Region's Past. Old Dartmouth Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-9845534-6-4.
  4. ^ "The New Bedford & Onset Street Railway: Street Improvements Power House Car Barn at Wareham Car and Car Equipment Eight Wheel Snow Plow Signal and Dispatching System Personal". The Street Railway Review. 11 (12): 879. 15 December 1901. ProQuest 574933531.
  5. ^ NPGallery Digital Asset Management System