Street Cars
 From 1910 - 1922, streetcars were a common sight on Aberdeen’s streets. The Aberdeen Street Railway Company ran three routes covering five and one-half miles, which at that time comprised most of Aberdeen. For a nickel fare, adult riders could travel to Wylie Park or as far south as Northern Normal (now NSU). Children under five were allowed to ride for free. Dogs, however, were charged full fare unless their masters kept them on their laps during the ride.
These electric cars were powered by a generator located at the Aberdeen Light and Power Company and ran on railroad tracks laid within city streets. 500 volts of direct power were delivered to the cars via wires strung twenty-three feet above the tracks to power the car’s two thirty-five horse powered motors.
Aberdeen’s six streetcars were elegant each painted yellow with their car number painted in bright red on each end. The early cars had bench type seats running lengthwise with the aisle between carpeted in red. Later models had two seats on either side of the aisle with rows of seating running the full length of the car.
Each car was manned by two individuals. The motorman was in charge of driving the car while the conductor collected tickets and kept the potbelly stove burning to keep the car warm during the winter months. Cars had steering mechanisms and controls on both ends which eliminated the need to turn the car around at the end of the route. The motorman merely walked to the other end of the car and used the other set of controls to retrace his route. For one block on Main Street two sets of tracks were laid which allowed cars traveling in opposite directions to easily pass each other.
Running a streetcar business was very expensive with high labor and maintenance costs which, in the poor economic times of the early 1920s, proved to be one reason for the company’s closure. Another reason involved the increasing popularity of the automobile which took travelers to all parts of the city at their convenience.
On July 31, 1922 the last streetcar pulled into the “car barn” located on the site where Presentation College now stands. Most tracks were then pulled up, and the cars sold to a company in the east. The last remnant of Aberdeen’s street car system, a section of track at the corner of 6th Avenue and south Lincoln Street, was removed in the 1960s as part of a street widening project.
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