Capital City Street Railway

Lightning Route
A view of three Lightning Route streetcars on a postcard from 1900–1920
A view of three Lightning Route streetcars on a postcard from 1900–1920
Operation
Began operationApril 15, 1886
Ended operationApril 15, 1936
Lightning Route Trolleys
Operation
Began operation1890s[1]
Horsecars of the Capital City Street R., circa 1880–1889

The Capital City Street Railway, also known as the Lightning Route, was the first citywide system of streetcars established in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 15, 1886.[2] This early technology was developed by the Belgian-American inventor Charles Joseph Van Depoele. Joseph Arthur Gaboury, a french Canadian from Quebec, was the owner of the horse-drawn system that was converted to electricity. One trolley route ended at the Cloverdale neighborhood. This early public transportation system made Montgomery one of the first cities to "depopulate" its residential areas at the city center through transportation-facilitated suburban development. The system operated for exactly 50 years, until April 15, 1936, when it was retired in a big ceremony and replaced by buses.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference mats_lightning_route was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ The Alabama Department of Archives and History page mentions streetcar development in 1886 at "Oak Park Montgomery’s First Public Park" and "Smith-Joseph-Stratton House" at "ADAH: Montgomery Historical Markers". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2008.