How the trains came to Santa Cruz – Part 3 (May 1, 2012)
The SC&F line to Felton opened sooner, but the steam locomotives were not allowed to use the Pacific Avenue tracks, and then the Mission Hill tunnel allowed the SC&F to stop using Pacific Avenue at all. Those empty tracks created a window of opportunity for the startup of a privately-owned, rail-based local transit system. Hihn’s Pacific Avenue Street Rail Road Company was the first horsecar service. In addition to the tracks laid by the two railroads, the rails were extended up the hill on Mission Street and out past the Pope House hotel.
Another early streetcar investor was downtown pioneer Elihu Anthony. Anthony had prospered since the days of manufacturing and selling iron picks to gold miners, and had built a nice house on the bluff (at the end of School Street) overlooking his enterprises below. Anthony’s other properties were, however, mostly located on Front Street. He joined Hihn and a group of other investors to plan a horsecar line (sources don’t agree on whether the line was built at that time - it existed by the 1890s as an electric streetcar line) from the lower plaza down Front Street, along the river (today’s Laurel Street extension) and around the east end of Beach Hill to the Leibbrandt brothers’ bathhouse on the strand. It's unclear whether this line ever connected with the beachfront tracks.
The Dolphin Bathhouse was one of the first tourist-oriented businesses on the beach, a predecessor of today’s Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. There's disagreement among sources about when the structure shown in the photo was built, but my guess is that it was right around the time the rails were laid, bringing more business to the beach area. There used to be a short Dolphin Street connecting Beach and 2nd Streets, about where the Boardwalk parking lot entrance is now. The brothers (and the route of the streetcar line) are remembered in the area by today’s Leibrandt Street which, in another of those curious local spelling mishaps, dropped one “b”.
The rail-based transport system continued to grow and expand for the rest of the century, into the Westside and east all the way to Capitola. The first streetcar companies were followed by many others – with varying degrees of success. One problem they all shared was meeting the town’s expectation of year-round, all-weather service. The original contracts called for the companies to provide paving and/or planking between and adjacent to the rails. The paving served two purposes: to provide secure footing for the horses and to allow passengers to get on and off without getting muddy. Because of the cost, however, the streetcar companies dragged their feet on those improvements, preferring instead to simply suspend service when the weather was too wet or the mud too deep. During the 1880s, this problem was mitigated downtown as the main streets were paved, but continued outside of the downtown area.
Early horsecars were succeeded by electric trolleys beginning in the 1890s and service reached its greatest extent during those years. After the turn of the century, rail-based transit gradually lost passengers to the newfangled automobiles. In 1924, gasoline-powered buses replaced the last trolleys. These days, the conversation has come nearly full-circle, as the debate about the future of public transportation once again includes rail-based options.
There’s another important episode of local railroad history coming up in the 1880s, but there are some other interesting stories to tell before we get there.
Sources (both available at Santa Cruz Public Library):
Chase, John L. Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture (3rd ed. 2005)
McCaleb, Charles S. Surf, Sand & Streetcars (1995).
The rail-based transport system continued to grow and expand for the rest of the century, into the Westside and east all the way to Capitola. The first streetcar companies were followed by many others – with varying degrees of success. One problem they all shared was meeting the town’s expectation of year-round, all-weather service. The original contracts called for the companies to provide paving and/or planking between and adjacent to the rails. The paving served two purposes: to provide secure footing for the horses and to allow passengers to get on and off without getting muddy. Because of the cost, however, the streetcar companies dragged their feet on those improvements, preferring instead to simply suspend service when the weather was too wet or the mud too deep. During the 1880s, this problem was mitigated downtown as the main streets were paved, but continued outside of the downtown area.
Early horsecars were succeeded by electric trolleys beginning in the 1890s and service reached its greatest extent during those years. After the turn of the century, rail-based transit gradually lost passengers to the newfangled automobiles. In 1924, gasoline-powered buses replaced the last trolleys. These days, the conversation has come nearly full-circle, as the debate about the future of public transportation once again includes rail-based options.
There’s another important episode of local railroad history coming up in the 1880s, but there are some other interesting stories to tell before we get there.
Sources (both available at Santa Cruz Public Library):
Chase, John L. Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture (3rd ed. 2005)
McCaleb, Charles S. Surf, Sand & Streetcars (1995).
