Marlborough Trolley System

Marlborough Trolley System. Marlborough, Massachusetts. , In 1888, with Marlborough growing by leaps and bounds, Samuel Boyd, an entrepreneur, shoe manufacturer and “Father of the City”, had visions of bringing a trolley system to Marlborough. He built and started a horse drawn system in 1888 and converted it to an electric system in 1889 with 2.1 miles of track. It then became one of earliest electrified systems in the country. , In the early days, there was a drop-off in trolley use on Sundays when the shoe factories were closed. Boyd began to operate circuses, baseball games, exhibitions and entertainment on a large field at the corner of Maple Street and Framingham Road. Sunday trolley travel soon became brisk. , In 1900, the city granted a franchise to the Marlborough and Westborough Street Railway to construct an electric railway for service between the two communities. The line ran from Main Street down Florence Street, across Ossfield, South and Brigham Streets, across the Marlborough/Southborough line, thence into Westborough. , In time, the growth and consolidation of trolley systems in the area allowed for connections to Framingham, Boston, Worcester, Hudson and from these to most cities and towns in Massachusetts. , The introduction of the automobile brought ridership down in the 1920's and by 1928, the trolleys gave way to bus lines. , [Captions (bottom, from left)] , . Trolley to Westboro. Notice the signs advertising the dance to be held at Lake Chauncy. , . Brochure from the early 1900s put out by the Boston and Worcester Trolley Company. It contained a map of the lines and gave [remainder unreadable in photograph] , . This rail spike came from the original trolley track laid on Maple Street in 1889.It was unearthed during the rehabilitation of the road in 2018. It was pulled from the original [remainder unreadable in photograph].