"Big Red Trolley", "Kangaroo Line", "Rag-Time Trolley" and "Toonerville Trolley"
Hackensack's Street Cars: 1894-1938
On August 5, 2006, it will be almost 70 years since street cars operated in Hackensack. On August 5, 1938, car 3540 (complete with a banner: Last trolley Off the Hudson River Line") made the last run from Paterson, to Hackensack and then to Edgewater, ending 44 years of trolley service to Hackensack. Although 14 years old at the time, the author remembers them even as if it were yesterday. This brief article will inform present day Hackensack residents of the successes and failures in building these transportation systems.
Hackensack was served (over the years) by four trolley lines: the Hudson River line, described by its patrons as the "Big Red " trolley cars as they were painted a bright red with gold letters on the side; "Hudson River", the Bergen Turnpike line (later designated as "Bergen"), which the passengers called the "Kangaroo Line." This referred to the five gaps in the line as it crossed several railroads.
In the early years these gaps resulted in the cars being isolated in five segments requiring passengers to change from one car to the other. The passengers had to "hop" from car to car thus the term "Kangaroo Line." The two gaps in Hackensack (at the New York Susquehanna & Western and the New Jersey and New York Railroad) were closed by June, 1906 (a photograph of car 915 on February 16, 1906, before the gap was closed, is above). The gap at the West shore railroad in Little Ferry was never closed. Hackensack cars were stored at the Sand Hill Substation (toll Gate no.5 on the Bergen Turnpike) on South Hudson Street, Hackensack. The Hackensack line approached Hackensack from Rutherford. It followed a twisted route over several farms, had poor tracks and (for some time) old cars. The BERGEN RECORD called it "the rag-time trolley line which winds its way over a jagged course...." It originally entered Hackensack from Grandview Boulevard, Hasbrouck Heights, via Lodi Road, then via private right of way yo Essex Street.
Later it came off Summit avenue, on the south side of the NYS&WRR, terminating as Mercer and Mill Streets. It did not reach Newark until August, 1904, the Lodi line (also called the "Main" line) originally ran from Passaic through Lodi to Lodi Avenue in Lodi. By May 1904, it reached Mercer Street in Hackensack. Because of the twisted route, via single track, it was called the "Toonerville" line by its patrons.
Ownership of these lines varied. The Bergen County Traction, in 1894, was controlled primarily by Philadelphians, including William H. Clark, a banker and brother-in-law of Frederick W. Taylor (famous as the "father of Scientific Management"). It built an impressive private right of way up the side of the Palisades from the Edgewater Ferry and lines to Fort Lee, Leonia and Englewood. It then headed west to Hackensack over Overpeck Creek, through a strip of land called the Fyke, and then via Degraw Avenue to Bogota and then Hackensack. The entrance to Hackensack was via a drawbridge with a 60 foot draw (required by the war Department). In 1900 , it was the largest drawbrisge in the United states used exclusively by street cars.
The first through car from Edgewater to Hackensack reached Hackensack on June 21, 1900. (a photograph of the bridge, taken in 1900 before a second track was installed, looking west is above). On February 27, 1900 the New Jersey and Hudson River and Ferry Company was formed to take control of the Bergen County Traction. The new officals were A. Merritt Taylor of the Philadelphia & West Chester Traction Company, a progressive company whose route today is still in operation under the Southeastern Passenger Transportation Authority (SEPTA) and Ford, Bacon & Davis, New York engineering consultants. William H. Clark was now first vice president. Under their management.
The Hudson river Line was extended through Maywood, Arcola, Warren Point, in Saddle River Township, making a junction with the Paterson tracks of the Jersey City, Hoboken & Paterson Street Railway Company on March 31, 1903. Under the NJ&HR control, the "Hudson River" line became the most efficient and modern trolley system in the United States.
The Bergen Pike line was an outgrowth of the Bergen Turnpike Company, formed in 1802. In 1893, Andrew Zabriskie of Hackensack became president of the company and applied for permission to build a horse car line from Little Ferry, along the turnpike to Hackensack. The commissioners gave their permission so the line only was built from Little Ferry to the New Barbadoes Townshio line. Here the construction people were forced to stop and the line was never constructed. In June, 1900 the Turnpike company was reorganized 1901 by the JCH&P, with the principal stockholders being from Hudson County, but also David A. Pell, Samuel Taylor and Andrew Zabriskie of Hackensack. Under their management, an electric line was built from Little Ferry to Hackensack, reaching Mercer Street on April 1903 and Cherry Hill (at Coles Brook), by June 11, 1906.
The two remaing trolley lines serving Hackensack never reached the smooth operations of the Hudson River or Bergen Pike lines. The Hackensack line was in trouble from its creation on November 2, 1894, as the Union Traction Company, the incorporators were from Rutherford, East Rutherford and Carlstadt, New York City and Brookline, Massachusetts. The company began with expansive plans, but soon ran into financial difficulties. By October 18, 1895 they were in receivership. They were reorganized in February, 1896, with the new officers including Henry C. Adams of Hackensack as president and David A. Pell (also of the Bergen Turnpike) as treasurer. The company began a track laying program and ordered 16 new street cars.
Again, by January, 1899, more financial problems arose and the company was reorganized on February 23, 1899, as the Newark & Hackensack Traction Company. The new officers did not include any Hackensack citizens, they were William G. McCormick of Chicago and William Giles and John H. Coon of Brooklyn. Ten of the new cars were sold for $8,000 to pay off debts and replaced by 6 old second-hand cars from the Brooklyn Heights Railway. It was these cars that were to give the line its "rag-time" trolley name due to their poor riding qualities on inadequate track. The line, however, was built to Essex Street Hackensack. In 1902 the NJ&HR company gained control of the company. The Hudson River Traction was formed on March 21, 1902, with A, Merritt Taylor of NJ&HR as president. The N&H was sold by the County Sheriff at Hackensack on September 1, 1903, purchased by the Hudson River Traction and now part of the Hudson River Line. In 1902 the line began running from First Street, Hackensack, to Summit Avenue and then south to Hasbrouck Heights.
The last Hackensack line, the Lodi Line, never reached any form of smooth operation. It was incorporated as the Saddle River Traction Company on June 22, 1807, to build a line from the Garfield bridge over the Passic River to Lodi. Problems began immediately when the company wished to cross the Erie's Bergen County railroad. The railroad refused and the solution was an underpass costing $24,000. The line opened on December 24, 1899, in a terrible rain storm, but derailed in the underpass.
At the time of its opening the Saddle River Traction Company was part of the JCH&P and in 1900, plans were made to build to Hackensack. Part of the route was achieved by building east on Charles Street, Passaic Street and Main Street to Union Street and then via private right of way to the Boulevard in Hasbrouck Heights. The return route in Lodi was west on Arnot Street and South on Westminster Street to Harrison Avenue. This was a single track operation and soon called the "Toonerville Line". The line reached Mercer Hackensack on May 16, 1904. Public Service acquired the JCH&P in 1907. The Lodi line was renamed the Main line and extended to Paterson.
(cont. below)