March 26, 2018
This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical
Society.
Today’s
story is about the mass transit line that linked Junction City to the “Prairie
Post.” The information comes from an article written in the Junction City Union newspaper in 1901. “The idea of an electric railway between
Junction City and Fort Riley was not new in 1901. Community leaders had first
attempted such a venture in 1886.
Although prominent citizens such as Bertrand Rockwell, A.H. Bartell,
N.F. Greene, James Harvey and C.G. Thurston put $50,000 into the venture, it
never materialized. There was another
attempt 1889, but that too failed to be realized. At the beginning of the 1900’s a third group
succeeded in organizing and actually getting the trolley line construction
underway. Permission was gained to run
the streetcar tracks along Eighth Street, then north on Washington and out
through the rural “flats” along the northwest side of Grant Avenue, which was
then mainly a wagon road to the Republican River. Construction of a four-span steel bridge set
on concrete-filled steel pier was built in order to continue the path to the
ultimate destination of Waters Hall.
Waters Hall was at that time the headquarters building on Main Post at
Fort Riley.”
We have a
picture of the trolley in our train station gallery on the second floor of our
Museum. Stop by and have a look at it
and the other artifacts from Geary County History. Our Museum is located at the corner of Sixth
and Washington Streets and is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 1 until 4:00
PM.
And… thanks
for reading “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.
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