Patterson Heights Incline car.
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For five decades at the tail end of the 19th Century and the early 20th Century, streetcars at first drawn by horses and later driven by other means - came into prominence as a means of travel for Beaver Valley residents.
Streetcars played a major role in the development of Beaver Falls as a shopping district and, in a series of articles James T. Reidel reviews their history, which came to an end when automobiles took over the streets and highways.
Another article, by Walter W. Warren, sheds additional light on a glorious era in the city's past.
On Sept. 17, 1884, Beaver Valley Street Railway Co. was organized with capital stock of $300,000, and a week later a charter was secured and ground was broken on May 1, 1885. The first officers were: M. L Knight, president; Col.Jacob Weyand, vice president; J. P. Merriman, secretary-treasurer; Hon. Henry Hice, John Reeves, Jacob Weyand, J. C. Whitla, H. W. Reeves, Joseph Snellenberg, and M. L Knight, directors; and Lycurgus Richardson, superintendent.
July 4, 1885, marked operation of the first streetcars in Beaver Falls. Each car was drawn by one horse. The line extended from the Fort Wayne Depot at 14th Street in New Brighton to 27th Street in Beaver Falls, where the barns were located. (This is the approximate location of the Armstrong Cork Co. office today.)
Early horse cars were provided with hay on the floor, instead of stoves for warmth. A horse was stabled at the foot of Seventh Avenue hill to help pull the horse car up the hill. Then it was walked down for the next car.
This line was sold to Beaver Valley Traction Co. in July, 189 1. The line was extended to Beaver, Dec. 5, 1891. At this time, the power was changed to electricity and the power house was located where King's Mirror and Glass is today. (Editor's Note: Now gone.)
The summer cars, open streetcars, were used for special events such as a church picnic. A canvas curtain was all that protected passengers from the weather. Conductors collected fares from a six-inch running board on the outside of the car. At the end of the line, it was folded up and one on the opposite side was let down for the return trip to permit the conductors to always be on the curb side. There was much difficulty in collecting fares as people stepped on anywhere.
The summer cars were outlawed around 1920-1921 and two of the cars were put in Morado Park for children to play in.
In 1901, streetcars began carrying U.S. mail to and from various post offices along the lines with all cars carrying mail sacks. It was not long before a regular mail car was introduced for such purpose, in charge of a railway mail clerk In 1907, this service was discontinued.
At one time on the Riverview and Main lines, copy exchanged by The Daily Times, Beaver; The Beaver Valley News, New Brighton; and the Beaver Falls Tribune, was sent on the streetcar lines. There were open boxes on the telephone poles to put the large envelopes in. They were open in the front so the conductor on the car could see if there was anything in the box.
Patterson Heights Street Railway Co., better known as the Patterson Heights Incline, was built by John Reeves, James F. Merriman served as secretary and John T Reeves as treasurer. The incline was incorporated in 1895 at a capital outlay of $6,000.
The line connected Patterson Heights with Beaver Falls and its terminus was near the Penn Bridge Works (what is now the Bridge Street area) and the car was operated in much the same way as a streetcar with a dummy car loaded with scrap iron. The dummy car weighed slightly less than the passenger car and traveled half the length of the hill. The car barn was located at the top of the hill.
In 1921, it was transferred to a group of Patterson Heights citizens, with George Joy, president and Ben H. Boss, secretary-treasurer. Later R. C. Weber became secretary-treasurer.
In 1927, the incline went out of business due to lack of profits and increased use of automobiles. In its nearly 30-year span, the incline had five operators - Phillip Erath, Jr., George Erwin, Fred Ham, George Hill and John Whittenberg.