UPDATED: Traces of old streetcar system reemerge
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/08/2021 (1726 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Near where city crews are working to repave portions of Rosser Avenue, a piece of buried history has emerged, with worn out asphalt giving way to expose remnants of Brandon’s old streetcar system near the Brandon Sun office.
A representative from Brandon General Museum and Archives told the Sun that the streetcar system was originally installed in 1911 and was active between 1913 and 1932.
Outside of providing downtown Brandonites with a quick and easy mode of transportation, the streetcar system also reached as far as the old exhibition grounds, helping to enhance Brandon’s status as an “event” city for visitors.
However, this love affair was not to last and the municipality decided to shut the streetcar system down in 1932 due to a lack of funds.
It was then replaced by a bus transit system that was owned by the MacArthur Transportation Limited Company until 1955.
The streetcar tracks themselves were eventually paved over.
These days, the City of Brandon owns and manages local transit with fixed bus routes that are active seven days a week.
However, at least one Brandon streetcar has survived to this day and is still on display at the Edmonton Radial Railway Society museum.
Anyone interested in learning more about the city’s old streetcar system should visit Brandon General Museum and Archives or consult with Brandon University’s S. J. McKee Archives.
» The Brandon Sun
History
Updated on Saturday, August 14, 2021 10:32 AM CDT: Brandon's old streetcar rail system was exposed through the gradual wearing away of the asphalt, not by work being conducted by city crews. An earlier version of this story implied otherwise. -- Matt Goerzen, editor