Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Looking up to Albion Street, February 1, 1898

Description

"Wakefield residents and business people tried to get back to business following a January 31 - February 1st snow storm which dropped 14.3 inches of snow on the town. It had the distinction of being listed as one of the 'Great Storms of the Past', according to records from 1888 to 1935. In 1898, the street car companies plowed their tracks, and the Town plowed only the sidewalks. The streets were not plowed until the early 1920s. The street railway in Wakefield began operations in 1892 as the Wakefield and Stoneham Street Railway, from Wakefield Square to Farm Hill, Stoneham. The system expanded rapidly with lines to Melrose, Lynn, and Reading, eventually allowing travel by street railway to Lowell, Lawrence and Peabody. Its demise began in late 1918 when conditions deteriorated to the point where the lines were deemed unsafe. The original line was discontinued in 1929 and buses played a prominent role in transporting people to neighboring communities and beyond." -- Text from calendar by Jayne M. D'Onofrio.

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2000

Photo courtesy of the Wakefield Historical Society.

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield

Date

02-01-1898

Format

image/jpeg

Publisher

[Wakefield, Mass.] : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Local transit

Snow

Street-railroads

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture : b&w

Extent

21 x 27 cm.