Mule Cars
Springfield Journal Register, date of paper which originally published the following is unknown.
WHEN THEY HAD MULE-DRAWN CARS ON SOUTH 2ND STREET---
Today we take you 'way back in Springfield history - yes, to when the South 2nd
Street citizenry were served by mule cars in the matter of transportation! Visualize yourself standing in front of where
St. Paul's pro-Cathedral now stands, at 2nd and Lawrence (then Wright Street), looking
northeast across corner to the old Fowler place. Looks quite primitive, of course, but mule-drawn
street cars were then in operation all over town. It was around 1880, shortly after the 2nd Street line had been established as
far as Allen Street, the other end of the line being North 9th Street, on out to the Watch Factory, the Rolling Mills and the then
County Fair Grounds. The fare was 5 cents but you got 33 tickets for a dollar in those easy days. Horse-drawn
cars came later and still later, the regular electric powered cars - in the early Nineties. When
the street was widened 12 years ago, the busses came in. South 2nd Street is now on the State Street and West Monroe
bus line.
Submitted by: Jeanie Lowe.
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