[A Trolley Car of the] Mineral Wells Electric System Metadata

Metadata describes a digital item, providing (if known) such information as creator, publisher, contents, size, relationship to other resources, and more. Metadata may also contain "preservation" components that help us to maintain the integrity of digital files over time.

Available Formats

Dublin Core: XML Dublin Core: JSON Dublin Core: Text Dublin Core: RDF/XML UNTL: XML Access METS: XML

Title

  • Main Title [A Trolley Car of the] Mineral Wells Electric System

Date

  • Creation: 1907?/1913?
  • Digitized: 2006-11-27

Language

  • English

Description

  • Content Description: A "Major" J[ohn]. D[avis]. Beardsley (1837-1911)--a Canadian who fought for the Union (for Maine) in the Civil war--built an electric trolley line that ran from North Oak, south to the train depot, west to Pecan Street (NW 4th Avenue), south on Pecan Street, to the ridge in the Lowe Place Addition, west to Pollard Creek, where Mr. Beardsley (as Head of the Electric Company) laid out Elmhurst Park (q.v.). A cross-line on Hubbard street ran east to Elmwood Cemetery. By the end of 1906, Beardsley owned sixteen cars, running on approximately ten miles of track right from the start. The route for this interurban was laid out by"Major" Beardsley. A man named Gid R.Turner proposed a rival line. A Weatherford newspaper of 1906 reported that an interurban, but "Major" Beardsley denied the report. (In August 1907, Turner was required by Weatherford to tell his intentions. He made no answer.) Neither line was ever built, perhaps due to the Panic of 1907, because by December of that year, the Beardsley enterprise was declared "Dead." Portions of the tracks were removed near the water wells dug by Mr. Ed Dismuke (q.v., in the description field.). Beardsley was unable to execute the re-purchase options of his he investments of "Major",Beardsley were bought by a syndicate of his creditors, including one D[avid] T[yler] Bomar, as "Major" Beardsley had obtained a loan of $200,000 from that syndicate, using his (Beardsley's) land and railroad holdings as collateral. The Fidelity Trust Company (with Bomar as president) was then set up. Beardsley was unable to execute the re-purchase option that he had set up, and the syndicate bought his properties. The quotation marks around "Major" might appear invidious, but research has not yet discovered when--or if--he was ever promoted to the level of Major. He had built two railroads by the time he had instituted the Mineral Wells trolley system, and may have had a hand in the building of Elmhurst Park. The picture of the trolley is taken from a Mineral Wells Special, dated tentatively around 1907.

Subject

  • Keyword: lost landmarks
  • University of North Texas Libraries Browse Structure: Business, Economics and Finance - Transportation
  • University of North Texas Libraries Browse Structure: Business, Economics and Finance - Electricity

Primary Source

  • Item is a Primary Source

Coverage

  • Place Name: United States - Texas - Palo Pinto County - Mineral Wells
  • Time Period: new-sou
  • Start Date: 1907
  • End Date: 1913

Collection

  • Name: A. F. Weaver Collection
    Code: AFWC

Institution

  • Name: Boyce Ditto Public Library
    Code: BDPL

Rights

  • Rights Access: public

Resource Type

  • Photograph

Format

  • Image

Identifier

  • Accession or Local Control No: AWO_0450P
  • Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metapth20351
Back to Top of Screen