Pieces of Des Moines Streetcar Past Uncovered Beneath Ingersoll Avenue – WHBF – OurQuadCities.com

DES MOINES, IOWA Ingersoll Avenue is known as an east-west connection out of western downtown. Years ago that connection was made by rail and this week some pieces of that history were discovered when road crews repaving Ingersoll found buried streetcar tracks.

Actually it was put in an 1895, that Ingersoll line was put in all the way out to West Des Moines or Valley Junction as it was, said Earl Short of the Facebook Group Des Moines Streetcar Friends. Street cars actually started in Des Moines in 1866 horse drawn, and then the electric came in 1888, and the electric car were here until 1951.

And after that overhead line electric buses served Des Moines.

This week crews were tearing up pavement around the 2400 block of Ingersoll. The work uncovered the streetcar tracks which had not been used in 70 years. The workers used grinders to cut the rails into 10 foot sections to be saved for historical purposes.

My Dad was a streetcar operator starting in 1923, said Short. He worked with the company until 1961, I rode with him on the street cars out on this loop.

The loop that Short rode as a kid was along University which went as far west as Waveland Golf Course. It was constructed as a way to get people out to the golf course. Now the turn-around loop for the trolley is still there, but its been paved over for busses to use to turn around.

Friends of the Waveland Trolley plan a $275,000 monument to the Des Moines Streetcars.

The monument is going to be 27 foot long 10 foot high its in the form of a street car and will have information boards around explaining the streetcar era, said Short. Brick pavers they call them, they will go in there to simulate this track with streetcar tracks are and were.

The group still needs $45,000 to help get the project going. If the money gets raised soon, construction could start in September.

Here is a link to the Friends of the Waveland Trolley, where there is a form you can use to send, if youd like to donate to this. Here is a link to Des Moines Streetcar Friends

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Pieces of Des Moines Streetcar Past Uncovered Beneath Ingersoll Avenue - WHBF - OurQuadCities.com