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Trackless Trolleys on S.I. & a Mystery Solved
The Tottenville / Richmond Trackless Trolley Line
Service Began: November 4, 1922
Service Ended: October 17, 1927
Fare: 5 Cents
A brief recap:
On June 25, 2009, John presented a photograph, and asked the members of the Island Nostalgia forum on SILive if they had any idea where the establishment "Atlantic Cafe" was located. The photo presented is of a "Red Mike" (from the color the trolleys - both tracked & trackless - that were painted by the City of New York's Department of Plants and Structures), a Trackless Trolley from "circa 1922". By the beginning of that year, there were only 2 Trackless Trolley routes in operation - one from St. George to Richmond (town) which began in Oct/Nov 1921, and a Richmond to Tottenville Route instituted in 1922. There were a couple more routes added later that year and the next (Linoleumville and Sea View Hospital), but these are the only two that had Richmond as their termini. The destination sign on the trolley clearly says "Richmond", and the bare trees in the background seems to indicate that this photo was taken in late 1922.
We have uncovered an article from Nov.1922 which reports on the new Tottenville route and has a pic of the new fleet - the car in the lead is #311, while John's photo shows #310. One could make the case (that if the sign is correct, and this is not some promotional picture) that this trolley is heading to Richmond on the Tottenville route. So the next thing to determine is WHERE exactly was this photo taken?
Update 7/4/09: The rolling stock used on the Tottenville - Richmond line was different from the other lines - - the City purchased the first cars from the Atlas Company, and later "improved vehicles" for the Tottenville Line were purchased from the Brockway Company. The cars are described to be 23 feet long, 7 ft. wide, and had 6 cross seats, 2 lengthwise seats, and a circular seat in the rear, all covered in green "genuine" leather...
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This is the Sanborn Insurance map of 1917 in the vicinity of The Atlantic Terra Cotta Company:
Earlier, on SILive, I stated that a Henry Schaefer filed for a Liquor License and paid tax to the State in 1915. The address the State had on file for him (or his licensed premises) was "156 to 158 Broadway, ATLANTIC" and that on his World War One Draft Registration Card, he listed his address as living on the property of the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company, and on the 1920 census the address was further clarified as being #4 Weir Lane (on ATC's property). So it seems that Henry kept a Licensed Premise at 156-58 Broadway, and lived only 2 blocks away.
NOTE: What was once called Broadway (some maps have it as N. Broadway, or E. Broadway) is now part of Arthur Kill Road...
Fortuately, the Sanborn map of that time, has DUAL addresses listed for for this area (in anticipation of the reconfiguration of Arthur Kill Road), and as evidenced by the documents of this time, Broadway and Arthur Kill Road seemed to be used interchangeably. Here is an enlargement of what was 158 Broadway, the address of H. Schaefer's premises:
(On Sanborn Maps "SAL" is an abbreviation of Saloon, "D" is Dwelling and "S" is Store. The Big Black Dot above the Red Arrow is where the Atlantic SIRT Station begins...)
The old Broadway address translates into 5198 Arthur Kill Road.
[NOTE: the Atlantic Station - a grand structure directly in front of the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company, was demolished when the AK Road was reconfigured. The current station is now 4 blocks south of the original...]
This is John's photo, which I have numbered to coincide with the map that follows:
Now, since I still believe that this Trolley is traveling North to Richmond (as it says in its destination window), and so we may get the same perspective as the photographer facing South (with the Atlantic SIRT Station BEHIND him), we need to flip the map around. I think once you compare this map to the photo, you can say it's pretty compelling that this was the place!
UPDATE 07/04/09 - As reported on SILive, a field trip was made to the site with 21eagle & SIHistrybuff. 'Buff had copious amounts of maps and diagrams, and a copy of an article found in the Archives of the Tottenville Historical Society which reported an accident between a truck and an SIRT Locomotive, in which the former ended up in the plate glass window of the Atlantic "Hotel". The address: 5198 Arthur Kill Road.
#7 is an Industrial-Looking (NOT a house) Fence for ATC's Mould Yard...
The house all the way down past the "V" can be
seen in the full-view map at the top of the page...
Standing in the footprint of the Atlantic Cafe...
What was once Lost, is now FOUND. We can now add this footnote (thanks to the contributions of those online and "offline"), to the pages of Staten Island's rich past. We are gratified to know that there are so many people passionate about Staten Island History!
FINAL NOTE: While researching this Mystery, we came across some photographs of a garage, specifically built for the Trackless Trolleys in 1921. It still stands today! The before and after pictures can be found in "Past Present", under the "Evidence Room" menu.
