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Page 164
TRANSPORTATION IN DUBOIS
CHAPTER XXXIV
WE have seen how the business location of DuBois was
fixed. Naturally, at this time, travel from a distance came by rail.
It was necessary for that traffic to get from the station to the
center of the town, as well as the persons leaving the center of
town to get to the train. As in all other progress, it soon became
apparent to someone that a bus service between the station and the
business center would be profitable. In view of that, Mr. Hollister
conceived the idea, of operating a bus line to meet each passenger
train. At what period this first service took place seems to have
been lost in the past. In fact no one seems to know the given name
or initials of Mr. Hollister who originated the service.
This bus service continued until the street railroad
was built in 1891. In 1891 or early 1892, some men from Kittanning
and Ford City in connection with local capital, organized a street
railroad company. This concern was known as the DuBois Traction
Passenger Railway Company. The one terminus of this line was the
Pennsylvania Railroad Station and the other the cemetery on South
Main Street.
An application was made by this corporation for a
franchise on what was then called the "plank road," Courtney Street,
Long Street and Booth Street, to the corner of Main Street and south
on Main Street to the cemetery. The construction of the road was
held up a little while by opposition to crossing the Plank Road. It
was alleged that that road was only 16 feet wide. The street car
company dug up the old court record that showed that this street had
been a public road, and the viewers had recommended a 50 foot
roadway. At this time no one seemed to know that John DuBois and
Henry Shaffer had laid out a road 40 feet wide as appears by the
survey of George C. Kirk. The street car company was then given the
right to lay its tracks on the east side of the Plank Road. The
meadow was crossed by driving piles in the ground and building
trestles about 8 feet apart.
The street car company built its independent power
plant and car barn at the corner of Spring Avenue and South Main
Street.
Like all new things, this railroad was busy for
probably six months and then patronage began to decrease.
The stockholders of the street car company later
conceived the idea of purchasing the light plant and did so and
operated the plants jointly, but the street car company failed to
purchase its power from the light plant until it was too late, and
both companies became insolvent. In 1897 the franchises of the
street car company were sold for State taxes for a nominal sum. At
that time it fell into the hands
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