Throwback Thursday: Bowling Green’s streetcars
While the public transit system in Bowling Green continues to evolve, with Go BG being its latest trend toward reaching residents across the city and providing affordable transportation, there was a time over a century ago that Bowling Green had a streetcar transit system. Streetcars looked much like the Bowling Green Trolley, and started being pulled by mules in 1889, progressed to being electric-powered by 1895, and officially shut down in 1921. After digging through the Western Kentucky University Special Collections Library, we found several old photos of the streetcars and rail lines that traveled throughout what is now Downtown Bowling Green and the gateway to Federal Highway 31W.
The first mule-drawn streetcar came to Bowling Green when Tom White brought it north from Nashville in 1889. Though the car was labeled as Park City Railway, it actually ran a route only around the immediate Downtown Bowling Green area. The start of the route was at Boatlanding Road, ideal for anyone traveling by boat along the Barren River. The route traveled through Fountain Square, to Broadway Avenue, Laurel Avenue, and ended at Fairview on Cemetery Road – they used to call it Cemetery Pike.
Some photos and postcards showcase this Bowling Green railway of sorts. The 1890 photo of the mule-drawn car includes John Potter holding the reins, with Sam Reeves standing and Sam’s son in the back of the car. This glorified version of a stagecoach that’s bigger and slower was the first version of a localized city bus system.
The rail lines dead-ended at the start of the Fairview Cemetery and on Boatlanding Road. While some photos don’t have the trolley, or streetcar, included in them directly, the signs of the public transit system were proven based on the rail lines visible in the middle of the street. The streetcar system ran from near the turn of the 20th century thru 1921. By then, the automobile was produced in mass and becoming more affordable, made more available to Bowling Green residents at the modern auto district around the modern day Circus Square Park area, where you will find the restored 1921 Standard Oil Station on the corner of College Street And 7th Avenue, reminiscent of the dawn of the individual automobile age.
Bowling Green launched into a new public transit venture by 1945, with three large motor coach-style buses that ran a downtown route. This particular Bowling Green Transit Company closed by 1956. Bowling Green public transportation continues to be a hot topic with many challenges faced by community leaders as our city expects to grow to over 200 thousand people by 2050.
