A streetcar turned house turned historical artifact is returning to its birthplace in Hampton Roads.
The public is invited to welcoming ceremony for Hampton’s Streetcar 390 Aug. 2, according to a press release from the Hampton Streetcar 390 project. The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. at Fort Monroe.
Streetcar 390 served Hampton for nearly 30 years, between 1918 and 1945. The construction of a shipyard along the James River in the late-19th century created many well-paying jobs on the Peninsula. However, there was a lack of transportation to the shipyard, according to the release.
Area businessman James S. Darling and banking brothers Henry and George Schmelz organized a trolley company, which laid trolley tracks from the shipyard to Hampton.
“This streetcar represents the growth of the area during the time when local businesses and military were growing at a rapid pace,” said Hampton Streetcar 390 Project Chair Greg Siegel in the release. “The streetcar will bring this story to life to share these decades of growth to a new generation is something you can’t pass up.”
At their peak, more than 60 trolley cars operated along the Lower Peninsula’s trolley service, before being discontinued in the 1940s in favor of buses. After being retired from service, Streetcar 390 was sold to York County’s John and Mary Anderson for $100 and moved to their Grafton property.
Streetcar 390 would remain there for nearly 30 years and — with some adjustments — served as the couple’s home. They split the car into three rooms. The couple would live in the modified streetcar until the early 1970s, where it was known as “Streetcar Mary.”
It was donated to the Baltimore Streetcar museum in 1977. The city of Baltimore also once used semi-convertible streetcars like 390, but 390 was the first of its model in the museum.
In 2013 the museum decided to offer 390 to its original home of Hampton, where it will be restored and displayed in a custom pavilion in downtown Hampton. The pavilion will also host multi-media displays that will take visitors through Hampton’s streets circa 1930, and illustrate how the streetcar system functioned and shaped the city of Hampton to this day.
The return of Streetcar 390 was led by the Hampton’s Streetcar 390 Project with assistance from the Hampton History Museum. The pavilion where 390 will be displayed was provided by the Fort Monroe Authority.
For more information, visit the Hampton’s Streetcar 390 Project’s website.
