I love this photo of the Montgomery electric streetcar system that started on April 15, 1886. I had never seen the photo before and it may be from the first day!
Before I romanticize "the good old days", I have to remind myself that when it was taken, transit was segregated...in fact a Wikipedia entry indicates that segregation actually started with the Electric Line:
It was on this system that Montgomery's segregated racial seating was established in the early 1900s, which continued on the city buses after 1936. There was a Montgomery streetcar boycott from 1900 to 1902 to protest segregated service.[3] However, the city council passed the Montgomery Streetcar Act in 1906 that further mandated a continuation of segregation.[4] Segregation ended with the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott started by Rosa Parks and led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and E. D. Nixon that lasted from December 2, 1955, to December 20, 1956.
The blog the photo came from---HawkinsRails--- has other photos of the restored street car downtown and more information.
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