Tazewell, Virginia, is located in the Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia. This vintage postcard dates to 1941 and shows a view of the eastern part of the town of approximately 2,000 people.
I posted a snapshot of this postcard to Instagram (@postcardigans) today of a postcard I previously sold. Typically, I include a historical fact about the postcard image. Today's fact about Tazewell hits upon a special subject for me: public transportation. I wrote my M.A. in history thesis about public transportation in Charlotte, North Carolina, specifically the streetcar era. So imagine my delight when I learned that little Tazewell was once home to streetcars.
Horse- or mule-drawn trolleys came to Tazewell in 1892. Most cities with streetcars had populations of at least 20,000 people, but Tazewell was a tenth of that size. In 1904 electric streetcars began running in the town. The primary route of the streetcar was to the town depot. The widespread acceptance of automobiles lead to the decline of the system, however, and in 1933 the streetcars were discontinued.
References
History, Tazewell Train Station, http://trainstation.townoftazewell.org/history/, accessed February 6, 2015.
History, Town of Tazewell, http://www.townoftazewell.org/history/, accessed February 6, 2015.
Louise B. Leslie and Terry W. Mullins, eds, Tazewell (Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), 19.
I posted a snapshot of this postcard to Instagram (@postcardigans) today of a postcard I previously sold. Typically, I include a historical fact about the postcard image. Today's fact about Tazewell hits upon a special subject for me: public transportation. I wrote my M.A. in history thesis about public transportation in Charlotte, North Carolina, specifically the streetcar era. So imagine my delight when I learned that little Tazewell was once home to streetcars.
Horse- or mule-drawn trolleys came to Tazewell in 1892. Most cities with streetcars had populations of at least 20,000 people, but Tazewell was a tenth of that size. In 1904 electric streetcars began running in the town. The primary route of the streetcar was to the town depot. The widespread acceptance of automobiles lead to the decline of the system, however, and in 1933 the streetcars were discontinued.
References
History, Tazewell Train Station, http://trainstation.townoftazewell.org/history/, accessed February 6, 2015.
History, Town of Tazewell, http://www.townoftazewell.org/history/, accessed February 6, 2015.
Louise B. Leslie and Terry W. Mullins, eds, Tazewell (Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), 19.