143. Ibid., “Merger of Car Services Praised,” October 1, 1933.
144. Washington Herald, “Is the Capital Traction Trying to Kill Merger?,” October 20, 1928.
145. Washington Daily News, “To Washington Street Car Patrons,” June 14, 1929.
146. Washington Post, “Street Car Companies Are Advised to Lower Their Fares to Compete with Taxi Service,” July 31, 1931.
147. Ibid., “Favors Try-Outs for New Buses,” August 3, 1935.
148. Ibid., “62 Buses Replacing Trolleys Set New Pace to Chevy Chase,” September 16, 1935.
149. Ibid., “Bus Service Wins Praise of Roberts,” April 13, 1935.
150. Evening Star, “New Street Cars in Service Today,” June 2, 1935.
151. Ibid., “Silent Street Car Put into Service,” July 27, 1935.
152. New York Times, “Streamlined Trolley Built,” December 13, 1936.
153. Evening Star, “’Toonerville’ Motorman Sees Newest Car,” August 28, 1937.
154. Kohler, Capital Transit, 45.
155. Washington Post, “Outmoded Street Cars,” June 21, 1935.
CHAPTER 9
156. Kohler, Capital Transit, 53.
157. Ibid., 261–64.
158. Quoted in a Capital Transit Company memorandum to “Our Patrons and Friends,” January 20, 1943.
159. The numbers are for all “platform” employees (those who worked directly on service vehicles) leaving the company in 1942 and 1944, not just employees leaving for military service. See Rucker, “CTCo Goes to War."
160. Evening Star, “Woman Given Trial as Operator of Capital Streetcar,” October 23, 1942.
161. Washington Post, “2 Women Open Training Today Aboard Capital Transit Vehicles,” January 6, 1943.
162. Evening Star, “Open House Held by WATS in New Recreation Room,” July 12, 1943.
163. Kohler, Capital Transit, 78
164. Ibid., 71.
165. Washington Post, “Capital Transit Agrees to Open Trolley, Bus Jobs to Negroes,” December 16, 1942; Atlanta Daily World, “Capital Transit Gives In; Hires Negroes,” December 20, 1942; Chicago Defender, “Capital Bus Official Bows; Hires Negros,” December 26, 1942.
166. Chicago Defender, “Capital Bus Official Bows; Hires Negros,” December 26, 1942.
167. Baltimore Sun, “Capital Transit Jobs for Negros Demanded,” May 8, 1943.
168. Washington Post, “Transit Tie-Up,” November 7, 1945.
169. Ibid., “Negro Transit Operators,” February 8, 1954.
170. Deiter, Story of Metro, 12.
171. Evening Star, “Mt. Pleasant Line Streetcars Tied Up Nearly Hour,” January 28, 1948.
172. Washington Post, “Capital Transit Tightens Belt as Costs Soar,” January 3, 1948.
173. Kohler, Capital Transit, 95.
174. This was a legacy of the days of horse-drawn streetcars. Tracks were originally laid only on the western side of the circle to make for a shorter connection with the O and P Street loop to Georgetown. Kohler, Capital Transit, 108.
175. Quoted in Kohler, Capital Transit, 109.
176. Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer, “Ol’ No. 1550 Nonchalantly Makes First Run in Newly Opened Tube Under Dupont Circle,” Washington Post, November 3, 1949.
177. Evening Star, “Bus Passengers Voting Selves into Non-Stop Radio Programs,” March 16, 1948.
178. Washington Post, “Yes, You Still Can Stop the Bus but You Can’t Stop the Music,” February 6, 1949.
179. Harry MacArthur, “After Dark: Let Radio Invade His Privacy and a Columnist Will Howl,” Evening Star, March 18, 1948.
180. Kohler, Capital Transit, 101–4.
181. Evening Star, “Capital Transit Plans to Put 7 Times as Many Radios in Use,” October 28, 1949.
182. Ibid., “Exit Transit Music,” June 7, 1953.
183. Henriques, White Sharks of Wall Street, 76–77.
184. Weinberger, “What’s in a Name?,” 4–5.
185. Evening Star, “SEC Action Due in Transit Stock Sale Next Week,” June 11, 1949.
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186. Evening Star, “Transit Firm Doubles Dividends; Financial District Is Surprised,” August 24, 1950.
187. S. Oliver Goodman, “Capital Transit Pays Record $1 Dividend,” Washington Post, August 25, 1950.
188. Kohler, Capital Transit, 130.
189. Evening Star, “A New Year’s Message and a Report,” January 3, 1952.
190. Ibid., “Transit Passes to Cost $2.10,” January 4, 1952.
191. Ibid., “Demand Grows Louder for Transit Probe,” January 5, 1952.
192. Ibid., “Letters to the Star,” April 9, 1953.
193. Washington Post, “CTC’s Reckless Course,” February 26, 1954.
194. Herman F. Schaden, “Transit Yields Point, Strike Threat Remains,” Evening Star, June 30, 1955.
195. Evening Star, “D.C. Heads Call Wolfson in Strike,” July 1, 1955.
196. Ibid., “Traffic Jams Showed No Respect for Rank,” July 1, 1955.
197. Ibid.
198. Washington Post, “Strikers Are Grim, Bitter at Wolfson,” July 5, 1955.
199. Evening Star, “Transit Sickness Now in Acute Stage,” July 3, 1955.
200. Edward F. Ryan, “Hopes of Transit Peace Are Dashed by Wolfson; He Testifies, Disappears,” Washington Post, July 13, 1955.
201. Jean White, “Driver, Rider, Policeman Hail End of Transit Strike,” Washington Post, August 22, 1955.
202. Wes Barthelmes, “Strike Aid to Transit of Future, Says Lane,” Washington Post, August 28, 1955.
203. Kohler, Capital Transit, 146.
204. Evening Star, “Streetcar Retention Is Urged in Report,” October 5, 1955.
205. Washington Post, “O. Roy Chalk, D.C. Transit Owner Before Metro System, Dies at Age 88,” December 2, 1995.
206. Ibid., “Cool Transit,” July 24, 1957.
207. Ibid., “Buses Supplant Two Trolley Lines,” September 7, 1958.
208. Ibid., “Plea to Keep Streetcars Gets Support,” August 24, 1958.
209. John McKelway, “More of DC Transit’s Pleasant Familiar Noises Are Stilled Forever,” Evening Star, January 3, 1960.
210. Ibid., “40 Make Final Trip on Cabin John Trolley,” Evening Star, January 4, 1960.
211. Morton Mintz, “PUC Hears Trolley Backers Plead for Continued Service,” Washington Post, April 11, 1961.
212. Kohler, Capital Transit, 163.
213. Washington Post, “Streetcars Mar Sleep on U St.,” December 12, 1961.
214. Jack Eisen, “Trolley Runs Out of Juice After 99 Years,” Washington Post, January 28, 1962.
215. New York Times, “Capital Trolleys Reach End of Line,” January 28, 1962.
216. Washington Post, “Ring Out the Old,” January 31, 1962.
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217. Henry G. Manne, “The Original Corporate Raider,” Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2008.
218. Schrag, Great Society Subway, 175–79.
219. Jack Eisen, “His Empire Is Smaller, but He’s Not Unhappy,” Washington Post, February 8, 1978.
220. Kohler, Capital Transit, 301–8.
221. Evening Star, “Bargain of the Week: 414 Used Streetcars,” January 21, 1962.
222. Jonathan Cottin, “’Eventually’ the Trolley Tracks Will Be Gone,” Daily News, November 24, 1969.
223. Cherkasky and Rice, Remembering Georgetown’s Streetcar Era.
224. Benjamin Forgey, “Dupont Down Under: Trolley Good,” Washington Post, March 11, 1995.
225. Washington Post, “Blight Followed Trolley Lines,” September 15, 1974.
226. Wolf von Eckardt, “Trolley, Please Come Back,” Washington Post, May 31, 1975.
227. Citizens Association of Georgetown, Report on Restoration of Streetcars and Cobblestones.
228. Transportation Vision, Strategy, and Action Plan, 28–29.
229. Michael Laris, “Key Questions Still Surround Planned Opening of D.C. Streetcar Line,” Washington Post, Oc
tober 22, 2014.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John DeFerrari, a native Washingtonian with a lifelong passion for local history, pens the “Streets of Washington” blog and is the author of Lost Washington, D.C. (The History Press, 2011) and Historic Restaurants of Washington, D.C.: Capital Eats (The History Press, 2013). He has a master’s degree in English literature from Harvard University and works for the federal government.
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Capital Streetcars Page 22
