Streetcars of Macon

Old Wesleyan - A hub of transportation that is now the city's Post Office.

Many city governments during the gilded age vied for the transition from buggies to streetcars as the common mode of inner-city transportation. Macon became home to its first line of streetcars in 1868, when the city constructed a series of tracks that stretched from the downtown business district all the way to the Georgia National Fairgrounds, which is now central city park. The tracks ran the length of the entire city and offered a safe, publically run method of transport. The trolley system had countless beneficial attributes that become even more appealing when viewing older methods that were traditionally used to mobilize goods and people. Businessmen who worked to advertise and implement the trolley system emphasized its economic superiority to the horse, a relatable concept for the general population of the time period. The gilded age saw great economic growth and prowess for the entire nation, and cities and large conurbations were experiencing rapid population increase. As more and more people settled in and around cities, it became apparent that horses and buggies were no longer the most pragmatic mode of transportation; cities needed something new, that was economically advantageous and had the ability to carry large amounts of people where they needed to go in shorter amounts of time. It was becoming increasingly important for the general population to support and utilize more fiscally responsible technologies and amenities. This was an idea that was supported by gilded age philosophy. Streetcars were an economically superior alternative to previous modes of transportation; they could be operated by clean, inexpensive electrical power. The resulting establishment of power plants around the city would effectively open up new job options for the growing middle class and benefit the local economy. To persuade the public to transition from the use of buggies, many trolley companies would offer statistical proof that over the course of a year, the cost of operating a trolley system in its entirety would be fifty percent cheaper than caring for and housing one horse for the same amount of time (“For Use of Farmers”). The implementation of the electric trolley system helped to modernize Macon’s cultural landscape, encourage economic growth and prosperity, and provide a point of social controversy concerning racism and segregation up until the time of Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement in the 1960’s.

Power plants such as these were at the center of the fledgling trolley industry in Macon and also powered electric lamps throughout the city.

Although the gilded age signaled a revolutionary wave of business for Macon and other towns in the New South, behind the glamor was a fragile economy, liable to break at any moment.  For all of the new industries created, which promised quality of life improvements and convenience of access, an equal number of new resource flows were needed in great demand.  Oil, coal, electricity, labor, all of these quantities provided a logistical challenge for the new aged cities of the early twentieth century.  In a Macon Telegraph article from the turn of the century, a headliner warns of an impending coal shortage which could topple the cities infrastructure (“Coal”). In this specific instance, a lack of sufficient rail cars prevented coal from being adequately transported into Macon. A shutdown would trigger a complete reversal of the accomplished industrialization which characterized the age.  Every streetcar, and electric lamp controlled by Macon Railway & Light was fueled by the burning of coal and no matter the economic and industrial progress made, it could be undone absent the necessary raw resources.  Even if the threat of complete and permanent shutdown was relatively miniscule, the potential that ingrained conveniences could evaporate warranted headlining new stories.

A view of a central street where streetcars previously ran. 

Streetcars not only changed the relationship between business and economy, but they drastically affected the social statuses of the citizens of Macon and other middle Georgia towns. In November of 1901, a bill was passed in Atlanta that requires streetcar companies to add a separate car for African Americans in an effort to establish the idea of “white-only” font cars. This type segregation was far from uncommon and, sadly, marked the beginning of a turbulent road of injustice and racism that would persist through the better half of the twentieth century. Newspapers published articles that clearly outlined the rules and regulations for the new “black cars”, as well as the ways in which different situations should be handled. The two seats in the back were left for  black streetcar workers and two seats in the front were reserved for whites unless there was an over flow, in which case the two seats in the front could be filled with blacks, but only if they were not already taken by white patrons. This method of segregation was not only enforced in Georgia, but all over the south. They were dubbed Jim-Crow Laws after the black-face comedic performances that were popular during the time period. Streetcar segregation would remain a common practice until Martin Luther King instigated the civil rights movement in the 1960’s.  Even though streetcars were long since replaced by modern cars during King’s time, he made an important point to desegregate them as a symbolic statement. Racism and prejudice infiltrated every area of American socio-economics and politics, and even modes of public transportation were made to comply with segregation laws.

By the conclusion of 1914, the city of Macon had over 37 miles of streetcar lines winding in and around the downtown area (“Streetcars of Macon”). The gilded age brought ideas of modernization and urban uniformity to the distressed post-war towns of the American south, opening up the doors for the coming economic, social and political progress that the twentieth century would see. As middle class families began to move away from the countryside and into larger cities and towns, urban areas become crowded and common modes of transport such as horse drawn buggies were no longer pragmatic or economical. The implementation of trolley cars advanced Middle Georgia’s economic prowess by offering a cost-efficient, uniform method of transport that used renewable energy, provided jobs for middle class Americans at new electric plants, reshaped race relations by bringing the issue of segregation into the sphere of transportation, and modernized Macon’s cultural landscape.

Works Cited