(Source of picture: Florida State Archives)

Out with the old and in with the new:  This 1936 photo from Jacksonville shows a streetcar cheek to jowl with its rival, the bus.  That year, 1936, was the last in which trolley cars ran in the River City.  The picture was snapped on Forsyth Street, between the present-day Bank of America tower and the current Main Library. 

The tall building on the right side, the Bisbee Building, still stands and will be preserved by the City of Jacksonville.  Next to it is a sign for the Forsyth Street entrance of the Arcade Movie Theater.  This derelict building partly collapsed in 2002, and bulldozers have leveled the remains.  

The advertisement below advised shoppers, "Better Business by Saving on Rides."  In other words, you could spend more at Jacksonville's downtown stores if you rode to them on inexpensive streetcars ("electric cars and buses").  The ad came from the newspaper, Jacksonville American, of February 6, 1932.   For more about trolleys, see below.

TROLLEYS CLATTER INTO THE SUNSET -- During the late 1800s & early 1900s, streetcars ran on tracks throughout the River City.  They rattled along from Ortega to South Jacksonville to Panama Park, on the Northside.  Trolley cars carried passengers just as city buses do today.  However, trolleys depended on an outside source for power.  An arm stretched from the streetcar to overhead wires, which provided electricity.  During a violent storm, the arm might sag down, and the trolley would lose its power supply.

Streetcars just couldn't win their battle against cars and buses.  More and more Americans tried to obtain automobiles, even during the Great Depression of the 1930s.   Just as most people today, they would rather drive themselves than to be dependent on public transportation. 

To serve those who did rely on public means, buses seem the most economical way to go.  For companies, bus routes are more easily established and changed.  This is in contrast to streetcar systems, which require expensive tracks, overhead cables, and other equipment.  You just can't pull up tracks and redirect a trolley car as easily.

TOO COSTLY TO BUILD -- Take a look at this excerpt from the 1932 report, "Comprehensive City Plan for Jacksonville."  It reveals some of the reasons for trolley systems, along with problems that plagued them:

"(Street car systems) were frequently installed by development concerns desirous of introducing new residents into remote sections; it is said that one of the first street car lines in Jacksonville was the Main Street line from downtown into Springfield and another with a line into old Riverside, both owned and operated by different companies, and each primarily to intensify development of their respective sections.  It is also stated that the developers of Ortega installed their own street car line from Ortega to the (Jacksonville) city limits where it met another incoming line of different ownership originally.  Such facilities permitted people to live farther from their business or occupation, away from the noise, dirt and heat of the city.  But in the past twenty years the automobile has affected the influence of the streetcar... Many (trolley) systems are today laboring under difficulties largely brought about by an inability to anticipate the future needs (new neighborhoods)...  It should be understood that no operating company can afford, or should be expected, to extend its service into territory wholly undeveloped  or to some isolated factory, park, or residential district... With the influence of the automobile as a factor many bus lines have been inaugurated..."

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