If you drive down State Street today, it’s easy to picture only cars and trucks. But if you rewind 100 years, you would have heard the clang of trolley bells and seen electric streetcars gliding through downtown Olean.
In a recent post in the Olean Memories Facebook group, we saw photos of dug up asphalt revealing trolley tracks at the intersection of Pine and North Union streets in Olean. These interesting images got us thinking and wanting to learn more.
As it turns out ….
The Olean Street Railway Company began in 1880 with horse-drawn cars that ran from the Erie Depot in North Olean to Lincoln Park. By 1893, Olean joined the modern age with electric streetcars, their wires stretching above State Street and tracks laid down through the heart of town.
From there, the system grew. Trolleys connected Olean to Allegany in 1894, then Bolivar and Shinglehouse in the years that followed. For many residents, hopping a trolley was the easiest way to get to work, visit family, or enjoy a day downtown. Imagine riding from Allegany into Olean for shopping, or heading out to Lincoln Park with kids on a summer afternoon — all by streetcar.
In 1906, Olean’s system merged with neighboring lines to form the Western New York & Pennsylvania Traction Company, creating a network that stretched across our corner of the Southern Tier and into Pennsylvania. The streetcars gave small towns a direct link to Olean’s shops, factories, and train stations.
But by the 1920s, times were changing. The automobile was on the rise, and buses began replacing trolleys. In 1927, Olean’s last streetcars stopped running, their tracks eventually buried under pavement.
Though the trolleys are gone, their legacy remains underfoot. The next time you walk State Street or drive past Lincoln Park, picture the clanging cars that once carried neighbors and visitors alike — a rolling reminder of Olean’s place in the age of trolleys.
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