Oklahoma Journeys

Week of February 1, 2009

The First Streetcar in Oklahoma City, February 1, 1903

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This week on Oklahoma Journeys: Area residents take a ride on the wild side. One hundred and five years ago, if Oklahoma residents wanted to go somewhere it involved either horses or walking. It’s no wonder then that the beginning of horseless streetcar travel in 1903 created a great deal of excitement, and that’s the topic of this week’s Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.

From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

One hundred and five years ago this week on February 1, 1903, it was estimated that more than 14,000 people jammed the streets of Oklahoma City to witness a transportation revolution. Prior to that time transportation in the state was limited to either horsepower or walking. These modes were fine in most situations but as cities expanded other options were needed. Congestion and impracticality prevented many urban dwellers from owning horses, and the large number of horses required for transporting goods around cities created a substantial amount of waste material but the need for transportation still existed.

The answer came in the form of electric streetcars. After months of careful preparation it was on Sunday, February 1, 1903, that the first electric streetcar in Oklahoma, described as a “giant” by the local press, slowly and silently rolled out the Metropolitan Railway Company car shed on 13th Street in Oklahoma City. Getting electricity from an old outdated city power plant, the new electric giant made its maiden voyage down 13th Street to Broadway to the heart of downtown Oklahoma City. The crowd that witnessed the event numbered into the thousands with one report estimating that more than ten thousand onlookers mobbed the downtown tracks. The new electric cars - there were five total - were a brand new phenomenon for most residents, and those men chosen to pilot the cars needed a week or so practice and warm-up time. Although this was the first time driving for these conductors it didn’t deter area residents from taking advantage of the free rides offered by the railway company during this initial warm-up period, and luckily enough, reports of early accidents seem to be nonexistent.

Initially there were two routes laid out - the blue and the red lines - crisscrossing the city with the cars arriving at stops every twenty minutes. Late night service was considered but rejected as it was thought that providing urban transportation after midnight would encourage late night excessive drinking. The great need for such a service can be seen in the instant popularity of the new larger faster cars and the great surge in interurban companies across our state. By July 1904 Oklahoma City was connected to Guthrie via interurban rails and numerous other towns had laid down tracks as well. The owners of the company were Anton Classen and John Shartel. Both were 89ers and lawyers, and both were developers of new housing areas for Oklahoma City’s fast growing population. And by 1903, they saw a need for what was then fast modern mass transportation. Though both men died in the 1920s, the company they founded, the Oklahoma Railway Company, lasted until the end of World War Two when it was bought out by the statewide bus company.

The research library at the Oklahoma History Center contains this and thousands of other interesting stories, facts and figures. The Oklahoma History Center is located in Oklahoma City on NE 23rd Street, just east of the state capitol. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma History Center, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and sharing of our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.