The days when trolleys rumbled in Port

Do you recall the era of the trolley cars in Newburyport and vicinity? I vividly remember it. The trolley car served its purpose very, very well. However, its demise was imminent due to a changing society.

The rumors began in 1931. There was talk around Market Square and Inn Street regarding trolley cars being replaced by a bus. It wasn't clear to us exactly what was planned or even what a bus represented, but by 1932, gradually the trolley cars and their tracks were removed or buried and the roads were resurfaced. And, at the same time, two motorized vehicles (buses), which had never been known to us, appeared in Market Square. They looked to me to be rather unpleasant. In contrast, I had always enjoyed the trolley car and its appearance and openness.

In the beginning, people did not take to the bus very well. It looked like a large, yellow box with a snout in the front. Nothing like this had ever appeared for public transportation on the streets before.

Buses were maintained in a garage way up on Merrimac Street on the river side. Daily, each of the two buses was stationed behind the firehouse on the wharf side for passengers to board. One bus would take the direction of Salisbury-Amesbury-Merrimac-Haverhill and would return from Haverhill via the direction of Groveland-West Newbury-Newburyport. This route was the more familiar to me.

Prior to the arrival of the two buses, the trolley cars had established a pattern of use, which the buses continued to use. That pattern was that the rider was charged according to the electric poles on the street, which were identified by an orange-yellow ring of paint that appeared halfway up the pole. The orange-yellow paint represented a trolley car stop. It had always cost one cent to ride from one orange-yellow pole to another. Now, it represented a bus stop, utilizing the same distances and stops used earlier by the trolley cars.

There is no question that the bus was a much faster mode of transportation than the trolley, and it didn't need tracks on the street. However, the trolley car ran days and evenings; whereas the bus ran days only and stopped at 5 p.m. Also, there was a difference in price; the bus was more expensive. Also, the bus drivers wore a military-styled, woolen, khaki uniform with a hat that had a badge on it, and their jacket was waist length with brass buttons; whereas trolley car drivers wore a white shirt with blue pants and a blue cap.

It had always cost 15 cents each way to Haverhill from Newburyport by trolley. Now, the price was 25 cents by bus each way to Haverhill from Newburyport. For instance, if we wanted to travel from Newburyport to Haverhill, we would first have to purchase our tickets from a 'Ticket Office' in Market Square.

However, the 'Ticket Office' was located in a store. The store was Didi's Restaurant. Mr. Didi had established himself as a franchise and as the "Ticket Master" for these two buses. There was no other place in town to purchase a bus ticket. In order to purchase yourself a ticket in advance, you had to enter Didi's Restaurant and, of course, while inside, people would usually feel obligated and while waiting for the bus to arrive, they'd purchase an item (coffee, doughnut, sandwich, candy, etc.) in his restaurant.

I recall a personal incident I had with the bus one day. I'd taken the bus from Newburyport to Haverhill. My mother sent me to visit a relative for the day. I had a dime of my own and she gave me 21 cents and handed me a bag of groceries to bring to the relative. I then had a total of 31 cents. We expected the fare to be 15 cents, as it had always been on the street car. I boarded the bus behind the fire station. To my shock the driver took 25 cents from me. That left me with only six cents.

It was my first time ever on a bus. By the time we got to Haverhill, I was gravely ill. I was dizzy and nauseous. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Luckily, the bus stopped in Haverhill, and by then I was barely able to get down off the bus and into the fresh air. Once outside, almost immediately I became well again ... but ... I'd lost my bag of groceries, which I'd left on the bus.

What had actually transpired on that bus was that exhaust fumes were coming in. Windows were closed. The fumes did not affect the driver because he was sitting up front by his open window. In those days, they didn't understand dangers of exhaust fumes. Since that incident, I never cared much for buses.

By the way, I knew it was cheaper to board a bus at a street pole bus stop and pay when getting off the bus rather than purchasing a ticket at Didi's Restaurant. Few people were aware of this. When it was time for me to return to Newburyport from Haverhill, I knew I didn't have the 25 cents to ride, so I began walking out of Haverhill toward Groveland. I passed many pole bus stops as I walked. Eventually, at one particular pole in Groveland a bus came along and stopped for me. Reluctantly, I boarded, and this time I sat directly behind the driver near his open window. I knew I didn't have enough money on me, but I had to get home.

So, my bus stopped in Market Square behind the firehouse. The bus driver, who I recall was named Gilhooly, picked up his lunch box and began getting off the bus. He told me to give him 25 cents. I explained that I did not have it. I only had six cents left. I would bring him the 25 cents by the end of the week. Gilhooly became angry at me ... told me to stay there and wait on the bus. He locked me in the bus and told me he was going to the "ticket master" at Didi's Restaurant.

I was a child and was frightened. Almost an hour later he returned, put his lunch box down, told me to get off the bus and that he'd have me arrested if I don't bring him the 25 cents by Saturday at a specific time. Well, I did my paper route that week, obeyed Gilhooly's orders, and on the following Saturday, I walked down behind the firehouse where he was waiting, and I gave him the 25 cents. And I was thoroughly disgusted with that bus driver.

In 1931 and 1932, people were on the brink of The Great Depression. Generally, people were on edge. Many people seemed unhappy, irritable and would often be snapping at each other. That bus driver's behavior toward me was an example of how people began to behave.

The era of the trolley cars came to an end. Change can be very difficult and sometimes uncomfortable, but change is constant and necessary. Wouldn't you agree?

John Lagoulis is a nonagenarian who grew up in Newburyport's Market Square. He chronicles events in his lifetime in Newburyport throughout the 1900s as he knows it, and each of his stories hold a hidden message about how people lived and survived during that century. He is a graduate of Newburyport High School Class of '38, member of NHS Alumni Association, and honorably served his country in 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945 during WWII.

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