For people today, even those who are interested in trolleys, of those old enough to remember their final days in this country, it’s hard to imagine just how ubiquitous they once were. For example, there once was a trolley line that gave tours of the battlefield at Gettysburg. It must have been a surreal experience for one of the veterans who had fought there 35 years earlier to take that ride!

Another unlikely-seeming place for a streetcar line, here in Ohio, was at Put-In Bay, on a small island in Lake Erie. But why there, of all places? Although it remains as a popular tourist site, Put-In Bay once was a place of grand hotels catering to the emergent wealthy class. These hotels, along with entertainments such as regattas, theater, dances and band concerts, led to it being called “the Saratoga Springs of the West.” Financier Jay Cooke (1821 – 1905) had his summer home there. At one time, in the summer months, as many as 12 steamboats daily connected it with places such as Sandusky, Cleveland and Detroit, with as many as 150,000 visitors per year.

As appropriate for such a place, a trolley line, the Put-In Bay Waterworks, Light & Railway company, began operation in 1890. As the era of such grand resorts passed, the resort began to fade. Regular trolley operation ended in 1910, although there was brief summer operation in 1913 & 1914. After ups and downs, especially during the depression, Put-in Bay remains popular as a much more democratic tourist destination, well worth a visit. But it doesn’t have a trolley line.

Pictures, Put-In Bay Convention & Visitor’s Bureau: 1) an open car passing the Hotel Victory, once the largest resort hotel in the country