Bismarck Depot Preservation Society

.

THE COUNTY ELECTRIC RAILROAD WAS A LINK TO COUNTY PROGRESS
The Daily Journal, Flat River, Mo., Monday, March 19, 1979

An article in the 1909 Detailed Financial Report of St. Francois County should be forgiven if it took too much for granted.  But it served to underscore the importance of railroad transportation in the first decades of the 20th century. “In addition to these (the article had mentioned other railroad lines) we have the St. Francois County Electric Railway, connecting the county seat and the lead belt with the St. L.I..& S. at Delassus, the M.R. & B.T. at Flat River and the I.S. at Esther,” the article said.

“The probabilities are that when the ‘Centennial Number’ of this pamphlet will be issued, and the history in this respect recorded, it will tell of trolley lines from St. Louis through the lead belt of St. Francois County and on to the county seat, connecting here with points south and southwest of us.” The vision of the pamphlet’s author Joseph A. Lawrence, never materialized. Today Farmington has no railroad connections at all.
 
But for over five decades, the city had its own commuter and freight system. Trolleys at one time hauled passengers to Flat River to work in the mines, returning them in the evening.  Links were achieved with the other railroads, providing shipment routes to points in all directions for the town. But the dream of Lawrence and the founders of the line in Farmington disappeared as other surface transportation achieved dominance in the area.  Today, only along North Street are rails of the line still found protruding through the pavement.  Over the remainder of its former run, strips of blacktop between concrete lanes or the telltale cracking of asphalt streets provide a remainder of the bygone days.

From March 1901, when a group of civic leaders proposed the line, until November 1957, when the last train pulled through town, the trolley and later, diesels, were a familiar sight. Its longest route covered the distance from Delassus to Flat River.   The railroad also had spurs to take cars to the notable businesses in the town. Just for a second in this historic look backward, a trip on the railroad is required.  It will provide a glimpse of the road as it was.

The three railroads mentioned by initials in the Detailed Financial Report were the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern, the Mississippi River and Bonne Terre and the Illinois Southern.  Today, the St. Louis and Iron Mountain, better known as the Belmont branch of the Missouri Pacific, is out of service.  The Illinois Southern is the Missouri-Illinois Railroad, which indirectly serves Farmington with a freight siding at Ogborn Junction north of town.  The Bonne Terre route is now owned by Missouri Pacific.  Most of the M.R. & B.T. road was torn out, but parts of it are used in Mo Pac connections today.

The county railroad line started at Delassus where a siding was built for connection with the Belmont.  It intersected Columbia Street at the area around the Clardy Farm and State Highway Department shed.  From there, it moved up Columbia Street to swing around the county courthouse. Its Farmington depot is now the site of Heck’s IGA on North Washington Street.  The line turned on Spring Street, running west to A Street before turning north. Money troubles plagued the line from the very start.  The county electric railroad was a link to county progress. From A Street the tracks turned west onto North Street and then headed north again on Potosi Street. The line left town along Potosi Street, heading past its powerhouse, which was located near where the intersection of Electric Place and Potosi would be, if Potosi was extended.  The journey went to Hurryville, following the Hurryville Road where several bridges still stand, railless but looking fully capable of holding the weight. Once the right of way reached Hurryville, it originally turned west to parallel the present Missouri-Illinois tracks. In Esther it linked with mine spurs and later, to the Missouri-Illinois tracks. The last leg of the longest run would take the train, first in 1906, to the Illinois Southern depot and later, via a spur that crossed Flat River Creek and through and behind the city’s central business district to the M.R.& B.T. railroad station that now serves at the Flat River Police Department building.

The reason an electric railway became necessary for the city was because of voter frugality.  By 1856, the St. Louis and Iron Mountain had a link to Pilot Knob, allowing a stage coach connection to Farmington.  But voters of the city in 1869 turned down a bond issue that would have brought the Belmont branch through town.  Instead, it moved on the outskirts of Delassus and south of the city. That line is the right of way that crosses Route W just outside Delassus and Highway 67 south of the city sewage treatment facility.

Attempts continued, unsuccessfully, to get a rail connection in town.   One railroad went broke trying to get to Farmington; a narrow gauge line was turned down; and a new attempt was being made to approve a rail connection when the citizens took matters into their own hands. “The Brief Authentic History of St. Francois County,” a work put together during the Depression by J. Tom Miles, reported, “The St.Francois County Electric Railway Company was formed in March 1901, by Peter Giessing, H. Sleeth, J.P. Cayce, W.R. Lang, M.L. Clardy, John Giessing, Thos. Lang, Louis Miller, W.F. Doss, A.T. Nixon, J.M. Morris, Dr. E.C. McCormick and others.  At the first annual meeting of the board Peter Giessing was made president and J.W. Buck, secretary, and actual work was begun in 1902.

“The power house was erected, machinery installed, and the road completed from Delassus to the power house, a distance of four and twenty-six hundredths miles when the money gave out because the company was unable to sell al of the bonds.” Financial problems would continue to plague the company.  But despite changes in ownership, the first official run of the train was made on July 24, 1904. At 10:11 a.m. that day, the first electric car rumbled down the street.   Thomas Lang Sr. turned the motorman’s controller which started the journey from the train sheds in Delassus to the powerplant.   The car was in charge of motorman E.C. Rickard and conductor Guy Tullock. “In six minutes the city limits had been reached,” history book said, “and the first stop was at the Presbyterian Church.  At  the post office (then in the building now occupied by Mercantile Bank) there was a stop of several minutes for a photography contest.  John Doughty won the prize of 10 tickets for the best amateur photograph of the first car. “The run continued to the power house and an inspection was made. At 11 o’clock a return to the depot was made in time for all to attend church who wished to go.”

The work of the railroad, both as a passenger and freight service, expanded with the needs of Farmington’s businesses.  Most of the stockholders and managers of the company had interests because of their businesses. The company built a siding to the Farmington State Hospital, which would supply the company most of its operating funds through the hauling of coal to the powerplant there. A spur was added to bring the line down East College Street to Middle Street, where it moved sought to Harrison Street.  There it served the Schramm Ice and Creamery Co., and its coal bins, the Farmington Milling Co. (the old mill next to the swimming pool that was razed in 1978) and Lang and Brothers wagon works. Also, its turn through College Street west gave access to the Giessing Milling Co. (also razed in 1978).  Outside town, on the north end, it passed the DeForrest Oil Co.

As mentioned, the railway’s early financial status was not good.   It switched hands and went in and out of receivership until 1912, when it was purchased by the M.R.& B.T.  At that time, the cost of the complete railroad was valued at $366,170. The line returned to local ownership in 1926, when 20 businessmen put up working capital of $20,000.  Listed stockholders were M.P. Cayce, president; C.H. Giessing, vice president and business manager; G.B. Snider, F.W. Schramm, D.F. Giessing, C.E. Rozier, W.R. Lang, P.A. Shaw estate, L.H. Williams, W.C. Fisher, Morris Brothers, George Tetley, C.A. Tetley estate, O.J. Mayberry, B.T. Gentges, C.Y. White, E.J. Lawrence, Henry Giessing and Klein Grocer Co.

The group also improved the railroad and shortened its bed.  The route from Hurryville to Esther was abandoned, and a link with the Illinois Southern was achieved in Hurryville.  The first gasoline-powered engine, a used locomotive, was added to the line. The company, at its peak, had four electric cars, capable to taking passengers from the Farmington depot to Flat River in 30 minutes.  The direct-current cars were linked to overhead wires, and motorman’s tillers were moved from one end of the car to the other to reserve direction of travel. The line aided its power situation by purchasing a rotary converter to enable it to turn alternating current into DC power. During the time it hauled freight, one of the functions included hauling water to the county infirmary, where the Mineral Area Osteopathic Hospital is today.

A timetable of the St. Francois County Railroad Co., effective Dec. 17, 1922, and furnished to the Daily Journal by Mrs. Rusty Johnson, lists the times and stops for the streetcars. Stops listed are Flat River’s M.R. & B.T. station, Esther, Columbia Junction, Gossom, Koen McDaniel, Hurryville, Woodland, Knauss, Ash Landing, Hunt Whitener, Power House, Potosi Road, Farmington Depot, Farmington Post Office (the courthouse square; the post office was located on the southeast corner at that time); State Hospital; Clardy and Delassus.

A car would leave the powerhouse at 5:25 a.m. and reach the courthouse square at 5:32 a.m.  From there, passengers headed for the Lead Belt would rumble along to Flat River, where the train would reach the M.R. & B.T. station at 6:00 a.m.  The return trip got riders from Flat River to the state hospital by 6:52 a.m. The last car would leave Flat River at 6:20 p.m., reaching the courthouse square at 7:04 p.m.  The last car trekked by to the powerhouse at 7:19 p.m. The railroad reached its heyday in the late 1920’s.  Reports showed the line was hauling up to 75,000 tons of freight annually. The Depression slowed business, but the line kept up with freight and passenger service.

Among the pleasurable benefits of the line was a connection for city residents to Woodland Park, a favorite picnicking area near the present Corral Drive-In Theater. The depot was located in the area of the present Heck’s IGA store on North Washington Street.  The original car barns at Delassus were retired and new ones were built downtown in the 20’s. That the railroad was vital to the city was certain.  A report at the time indicated, “Certain businesses would find it almost impossible to operate under the present setup were the electric railroad to discontinue.” But as the other surface transportation methods grew in use, and as the use of coal decreased the days of the privately-owned railroad were numbered.  The businesses it had served were slowly passing away, and the line began to lose money in 1947.  It turned a profit only one year after that, in 1951, when $147 were cleared.  That year, in what is listed as the last passenger revenue for the line, $1.75 was collected for fares.

The profit in 1951 was aided by the city’s building of the east side sewage plant.  Farmington purchased 80 cars of limestone that were hauled over city tracks that year. So by 1957, the board of directors had decided it was time to end Farmington’s railroad. In its July 7, 1957 edition, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on the end of the community railroad.  “Nine-mile St. Francois Rail Line Wants to Quit to End Its Losses,” the page 3 headlines read. Pictured with the story was “One of St. Francois County Railroad Co.’s second-hand switch engines. . . in front of the county courthouse. Engineer Paul Rickus is at controls and fireman Emmett Welch is on catwalk.” Also shown as the railroad company’s last president, Dr. L.M. Stanfield.  Stanfield owned 69 of the 250 outstanding shares of the line, which ran in front of his home on North Street. As he watched one of the locomotives move past the courthouse, forcing traffic onto the wrong side of the street, Stanfield said, “You know, this railroad actually is a nuisance.” “We haven’t made any money to speak of since 1947.  Our equipment is run down, we need new rails and there’s no prospect of getting any more business.” Welch, a 45-year veteran of service to the railroad, spoke of the six-day-a-week runs the engines made.
“We don’t go to Hurryville every day.  Hurryville is just a place where this railroad connects with the Missouri-Illinois Railroad.  About 50 people live there now and the M-I doesn't always have freight for us to haul.”

The passenger service had been phased out, and only freight-hauling diesels were in operation at the time J.O. Swink, vice president and general manager of the company, told a local newspaper in October 1957, “While permission to relinquish its franchise was obtained from the Interstate Commerce Commission on Aug. 26 (1957) permission from the Missouri Public Service Commission was not received until Oct. 11.” Swink, incidentally, was involved in another job with the railroad, as an engineer. 

One day in former Gov. Forrest Smith’s administration, Swink was running the train because Rickus had gone duck hunting. “The governor’s office was trying to get me everywhere,” Swink related in the Post article.  “They telephoned my home, the railroad office and my law office, but I was out running the engine.  They wanted to tell me I had just been appointed a circuit judge.” And while the railroad terminated service in 1957, its lawyer-turned-engineer remained on the circuit bench until 1976.

When the news of the closing finally came, revelers at the Farmington Homecoming in July 1957 realized that they had indeed ridden on the ‘Last Train to Delassus.’  An attraction at the festival that year was a ride in a flat-bed car pulled by a diesel, from Long Park to Delassus.  The fare was 50 cents.  It marked the final time passengers viewed the city from the rails. Nov. 15, 1957 brought the last run. The engine made its final turn by the courthouse that day. The last freight handled by the company was a shipment of grain for the Farmington Milling Co.  The last load hauled over the route was a car of cement for C.E. Trogdon Construction Co.

But the spring of 1958 the rails disappeared from the line.  A single rail remains on a bridge beside West Columbia Street, near the siding that connected the line to the state hospital.  The North Street section was spared because that street had recently been blacktopped. The rails, switches and engines were sold.  The depot building and a new train shed were also disposed of. That train shed, incidentally is the building housing the present Heck’s IGA store. The railroad was headed by Dr. Stanfield when it went out of operation. Swink and M.P. Giessing, secretary, were officers. Members of the board of directors were C.H. Giessing, B.T. Gentges, Arlie McClard, all of Farmington, and Dr. W.A. Rohlfing, Flat River. At the close of office work, Roy Wilkerson and Raymond R. ‘Rusty’ Johnson were on the staff.  The last engine was operated by Welch, conductor, and Rickus, engineer.  Marvin Welch was section foreman and Willard Hammond was on the section crew.

So Joseph a. Lawrence’s great dream of a trolley network never materialized.  The St. Francois Electric Railway Co. faded away like many of the firms it handled freight and passengers for. Now, only memories and the rails on North Street remain.




Photos of SFCERR Motors


Motor #50 at Farmington

Motor #54 at Farmington

Motor #50 in Iowa

More Photos Coming Soon!