On this #TBT, we recall the historic streetcars of Sheridan County. The text is from a sign that once stood near the restored car #115 outside the Sheridan County Museum.
In early 1910, Albert Emanuel and William Sullivan of the Electric Street Railway of Dayton, Ohio, proposed to build and operated an electric streetcar system in Sheridan. The proposed line would run through Sheridan and serve as a direct line to the nearby coal camps. The City of Sheridan quickly approved the proposal and by July of 1910, rails were being laid. In just over one year’s time, the City Line was completed with service beginning on August 11, 1911.
Following the tremendous success of the City Line, a second route, known as the Fort Line, was established. The Fort Line was an extension from Main Street, up Lewis Hill to the county fairgrounds, across Deadman’s Draw, and on to Fort Mackenzie – the present-day VA Hospital. Once at the Fort, passengers would help turn the streetcar on a turntable for the ride back to town.
The streetcar service expanded even more with the construction of a 12-mile route from Sheridan to the nearby coal camps. This Interurban route was completed in February of 1912 and made stops at Dietz, Acme, Model, Carneyville, and Monarch.
Sheridan’s streetcar system had some 18 miles of track within the city, which included a short spur from the end of the City Line to the sugar factory on Coffeen Avenue.
Over the years, the streetcar became the pride and joy of Sheridan and the nearby mining communities and operated with no additional changes.
After the city decided to repave downtown Main Street and not replace that stretch of double track due to decreased passenger counts, service on the City Line was discontinued in September of 1923. The Fort Line continued to operate until March of 1924 when it was replaced by a bus. That left the Interurban routes to carry on as the last remaining electric railway in the state. However, it met the same fate of abandonment in June of 1926.
Fifty years after the streetcars made their last runs, the dilapidated body of one of the cars was discovered in a field near town. As part of the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976, #115 from the Fort Line was saved and renovated by local individuals, businesses, and organizations. Today #115, the only remaining streetcar in the state of Wyoming, has again fallen into disrepair. It sits near the old sale barn on Higby Road.
