Portland
Vintage Trolleys
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| This library of
historic streetcar maps of Portland will be added to as further maps are
discovered, scanned, drawn or otherwise made presentable on the Web. |
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This 1904 map
is based upon an original printed in the Street Railway Journal
(Dec. 31, 1904 p. 1135). It shows the Portland system a year before
the amalgamation process that would become the Portland Railway, Light
& Power Co. There were two chief traction rivals in 1904, the
City & Suburban Railway Co. with 67 miles of track, and the Portland
Railway Company with 41 miles. |
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American Map and Reproducing's Map of
Portland and Vicinity was published in 1912
as
the street railway system approached its peak. Most of the country's
3rd largest narrow gauge system was in place soon thereafter as stub lines
were built to new developments in Errol Heights, Murrayhead and Westover
and extensions added to the Hawthorne and Mt. Tabor Lines. |
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Although this map appeared in the 1924edition
of Pittmon's Portland Offical Guide the same drawing
appeared from 1920-27 without updating.
Line changes continued to be made during the Portland Electric Power Co.
(PEPCO) years, but they may have been too subtle to have inspired a redrawing
for the pocket guide. New routes were added, such as Municipal Terminal
(1922) and the Greeley cutoff for St. Johns (1926), and existing lines
were cut back or merged with other lines. For example, Depot &
Morrison became Willamette Heights and gave its downtown terminus to the
Council Crest Line, and part of the 16th St. Line was joined with Williams
Avenue.` |
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When the 1st National Bank Guide Map appeared in 1933
the Great Depression was well under way and the Portland Traction Company's
streetcar system was in decline. A large number of lines were converted
to trolley or gas bus, or simply abandoned, during 1936-37, including Beaumont,
Hawthorne, Fulton, Irvington, Mt. Scott, Murraymead, Richmond, Rose City,
Russell-Shaver, St. Johns, and Westover, and Woodlawn. |
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