Streetcars

Salem’s First Streetcar Line

On January 1, 1889, the Rev. J. L. “Father” Parrish, last survivor of Salem’s missionary founders, seized a broadaxe that had known the hand of Jason Lee, wound himself up and hammered home the first spike for Salem’s first streetcar line. On April 16, 1868, Father Parrish had driven, in East Portland, the first spike for the Oregon and California Railroad. Streetcars for Salem were not a new thought. Learn More

Runaway Team Frightened by Streetcar

Fred Feller, who lives on Dr. W. A. Cusick’s farm south of Salem, had a lively runaway on South Commercial Street on March 2 in the afternoon as he was returning home. He had just started out when an electric street car came along and frightened his horse team which soon became unmanageable.

The neck-yoke came down, the tongue of the buggy caught in the ground and was broken and the rig turned over. Learn More

Valuable Mule Electrocuted

At 11:30 March 3, 1901 before noon, while F.R. Funk, an older gentleman living in North Salem who supported his family by hauling wood, was in the act of driving across the track of the Salem Light & Traction Company’s State Street car line. On the corner of State and 13th Streets, he was involved in a near fatal accident that resulted in the instant death of one of his mules – – a valuable animal – – one of a team that represents the gentleman’s capital. Learn More

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This article originally appeared on the original Salem Online History site and has not been updated since 2006.