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Thursday, January 25, 2018

Old Trolley Station ~

A beautiful example of Butler classical architecture.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never remember it being this clean!

Anonymous said...

What street was it on? I don't remember hearing about it...

Anonymous said...

It was on Cunningham Street right below Trautman's. To the left you see the alley leading up to the Jail and the Court House. After the trolley system was done away with in the 1940s it was a bus station. Great looking building, wasn't it?

Anonymous said...

Yes I remember the old trolley station as the bus station when I was going to Butler High, super building. a landmark.
Jeanne McClain

Anonymous said...

I do not remember the trolley station, but I do remember sitting with my Grandfather in the bus station. There was a small model of a wooden speed boat behind one of the glass counters .. I used to dream of owning it one day.

Anonymous said...

Why is Butler so efficient of ruining it's past? This obviously was a beautiful building. The same goes for the streets. I would love to see the face of the baboon who decided to pave the brick streets. This summer they shaved off the blacktop and under them were bricks.

Anonymous said...

Fond memories when I saw the terminal picture. I remember it as the bus station and the trips with my grandmother shopping. It was also a very long ride up center avenue on one of those busses.

Anonymous said...

my grandfather worked at the old bus station in the 50's he found a hunting knife there and gave it to me I still have it fifty some years later

Anonymous said...

ok, name the City Bus lines in the 50's. BTW, the building never did look this clean. People wrote names and hearts on the stone where the people are shown in the postcard. For a penny, you could weigh yourself on the big scale towards the back. Big wooden benches inside, news rack and candy on the East inside.

Bus Lines: Center Ave, Morton Ave, Institute Hill, Island, West End(?) Hanson ave Lyndora, ????

Anonymous said...

I left for the Navy from that station. I wonder if the Dave Sholes who recited the route to Pittsburgh is the same one who lived near my house on Olive Street.
It was a special building as were so many. I am now lost in Butler since so much has changed. I have been away for so long and of course every place changes. I left Butler in 1945 and only returned occasionally for short stays while my parents were alive. I love looking at these old buildings and remember out yesterdays.

Anonymous said...

At one time there were street cars in Butler. Does anyone know the year and when they stopped running.?

Anonymous said...

It was around 1943-1944 when they stopped running. I can remember them cutting down the overhead wires.

Anonymous said...

On the corner of Washington & Cunningham, next to the bus station was the Sparkle Market. When I was 6 years old my mother filled out a ticket for the chest freezer the market was raffling off. That was in 1952 and surprise... she won. That freezer is still running. Goes to prove things were built to last back then.

Anonymous said...

I used to take the 7:10 to Trade school in Pgh. every day in the late 50's.
My Dad was a driver for Harmony Short Line and my
uncle, Joe John drove a city bus for a while.

Anonymous said...

The last trolly to run in Butler was in 1941

Anonymous said...

The old bus station brings back many memories for me. I remember sitting in the station with my mom waiting for the Maryland Avenue bus to arrive. It was always so warm and cozy in there on cold winter days. I always hated to leave the building and go back outside.

Anonymous said...

I remember being with my Mom and catching the Harmony Short Line bus to Pgh. It seemed like a funny name for a bus company to a little boy. My Mom told me that their was an interurban train that went to Pgh. but was closed down after the war. Butler was ahead of the curve in doing away with the streetcars. Greensburg had them untill the late 50's and, of course, they ran all over Pgh.

Anonymous said...

Think it was demolished about when I was born.The buses just lined up by Troutman's on the street.The parking garage opened in what? 1974 or so.

Anonymous said...

I was leaning for a 1939/40 closing date but will accept 1941.I had already turn 6 when the last Trolley was to travel on Penn St. My grandmother took me on it. She wanted me to see a bit of History. I was little and she told me if they asked my age I was to say I was not yet 6 since it was half price. I am remembering $.05. The only other time I rode the trolley was to go the other direction. Alameda Park was at the end of Penn Street and was developed by the Trolley lines. They would put places like Kennywood and others at the end of their lines to encourage people to ride. You would ride to the park for the day then ride home.

Anonymous said...

My Dad used to send me to the bus station on Saturdays to get the Sunday edition of the Pittsburgh newspaper. He would also give me an extra quarter so that I could buy a peppermint patty. Fun memories!

R. Wertz said...

They tore down the Bus Station! Blasphemy!

Just up the alley was the Butler Eagle office where the newspaper boys
would gather to get their papers for delivery-then rush down to the
Bus Station crowding out the salary men/women (always at 5)with
those big pouches of papers. Being callow youths we (I know I did)
crowd out the real people. Not long ago, I wrote a letter to
the Eagle apologizing for my crass behavior. I received a call
from someone at the Eagle wanting to know if I was a real person.
My apology was published in the "Letters To The Editor" section.
There-I repented for all to read and felt that I could hold my
head up in polite company yet again neglecting, of course, all the
other evil things I have done. One thing at a time I always say.

Anonymous said...

The streetcars quit running in 1941. The company had signed a 99 year lease with the city in 1899, but that technology only lasted 42 years. The tracks were torn up and sold to help the war effort of World War II. One can still see where the tracks ran up the red brick section East Pearl Street as they were filled in with single bricks running east to west as opposed to the rest of the brick running north to south. There is still a small section of the steel tracks showing at the end of Armco Drive in Lyndora.

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