Streetcars have not graced Waco’s city center in more than six decades. But, as the saying goes, everything old is new again.

There’s been talk recently among city leaders, business chiefs, regional representatives and transportation gurus of the potential return of fixed-line trolley service, a form of transit connecting downtown with Baylor University, parts of East Waco and perhaps even area attractions.

Fans of such a system are touting an electric-run streetcar line and contemplating routes, all while a $300,000 feasibility study is being conducted. The hope is that a $25 million public expenditure would kick-start a $1 billion private investment in downtown Waco’s future.

Wacoans gather in front of a streetcar in this Fred Gildersleeve photograph.
The Texas Collection at Baylor University

Waco’s first streetcars were the mule-drawn trolleys of Citizens Railway, which launched operations in 1877. In 1891, Waco Electric Railway and Light Co. bought out the mule-drawn-trolley franchise and began the electrification of downtown transportation.

According to an 1892 bird’s-eye map of Waco by artist A.L. Westyard, one can see streetcar tracks running from downtown to what is now the Cameron Park area, and as far west as today’s Sanger Heights neighborhood.

By 1901, the electrified system had more than 20 trolley cars to cover more than 20 miles of track, according to the Handbook of Waco and McLennan County.

During the next two decades, the railway line would be extended deep into East Waco and to Camp Mac- Arthur, the huge World War I Army base around the modern-day site of the Heart O’ Texas Fairgrounds.

In 1913, Citizens was connected to the new electric interurban system, which ran larger trolley cars from Waco to Dallas and Sherman, and south to Corsicana. The owner of that system, the Texas Electric Railway Co., bought out the streetcar systems in Waco, Dallas, Waxahachie and other towns.

Waco’s hometown railroad was renamed three more times during its existence — including stints as the Southern Traction Company (1913-17); Texas Electric Railway (1917-46) and finally as the Waco Transit Company. In 1917, the Texas Traction Company and the Southern Traction Company merged to form the Texas Electric Railway Company, the largest interurban railway in the South, with more than 200 miles of track.

Fall from grace

After World War II and until 1948, the Waco Transit Company oversaw the dissolution of the once-proud franchise, as the streetcars were rendered obsolete when buses replaced railroad operations. Trolleys were regarded as outdated, and it was considered a sign of progress to rip up the tracks.

But for more than half a century, trolleys circulated on about 20 miles of track that linked downtown with schools, parks, hospitals and scattered neighborhoods.

It also hooked up with the light rail system to Dallas and beyond on what was called the Interurbans, operated by Texas Electric and Northern Texas Traction. The lines linked Waco with Waxahachie, Dallas and Denison.

At the turn of the 20th century, North Texas boasted the largest fleets of “Stone & Webster”-style stepped-arch roof trolleys in any American city. These turtleback cars had a high arch over the main body of the car, with lowered vestibule arches. This style was also used on the cars servicing Waco riders.

Waco and other Texas metropolitan areas, much like other American cities, saw the streetcar fall out of fashion in the 1930s and ’40s.

The rapid decline of the streetcar was precipitated, in part, by improvements to highway maintenance and the reliability of private automobiles.

Cities that maintained streetcar lines weren’t seen as progressive or modern.

The last Texas Electric interurbans line ran to Waco on Dec. 31, 1948. Dallas, however, converted many of its electric rail lines to trolley coaches, retrofitting the buses with air conditioning.

Sources: Handbook of Texas Online, DavesRailPix.com, LightRailNow.org, MidContinent.org, RailwayPreservation.com, the Baylor Institute for Oral History.