{"id":957,"date":"2013-10-20T21:42:30","date_gmt":"2013-10-20T21:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/?page_id=957"},"modified":"2013-10-20T21:42:30","modified_gmt":"2013-10-20T21:42:30","slug":"trolley-tracks-thru-morgan","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/sample-page\/bridges-roads-rails\/jersey-central-traction-company\/trolley-tracks-thru-morgan\/","title":{"rendered":"Trolley Tracks Thru Morgan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morgan Memories \u2013 Trolley Tracks Thru Morgan<\/h3>\n
\"JCT<\/a>

Jersey Central Traction Trestle and Bridge Over the New York & Long Branch Railroad Circa 1905.<\/p><\/div>\n

After spending the first 21 years of my life in Morgan just up the street from where Route 35 crosses over the railroad tracks, imagine my surprise a couple of decades later when I encountered the picture post card at the top of this page.\u00a0 It looked so much like the Route 35 north bridge over the railroad tracks – yet it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 Like so many other things, hopefully being addressed by this web site one by one, I never knew that once there was a trolley which ran through Morgan.<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/sample-page\/bridges-roads-rails\/1928-photo-of-the-route-35-bridge-over-the-railroad\/<\/a><\/p>\n

But there was!!\u00a0 Its name was the Jersey Central Traction Company (let\u2019s just call it the JCT) and the majority of its route would seem very familiar to anyone who has ever traveled from Laurence Harbor to South Amboy.\u00a0 Opened for passengers on March 15, 1905, until the automobile put trolley lines out of business, the JCT was the main way to travel between Perth Amboy and the Atlantic Highlands.<\/p>\n

\"JCT<\/a>

Jersey Central Traction Company Route Map. Image Courtesy of Randall Gabrielan.<\/p><\/div>\n

So specifically where in Morgan did the JCT run?\u00a0 Thanks to a number of people (the late Joseph Eid, Joseph Grabas, Joyce Elyea and Randy Gabrielan), the answer is pretty much contained on this page \u2013 including what sides of the streets the tracks were on!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"1919<\/a>

1919 Sanborn Fire Map Showing the Route of the Jersey Central Traction Company from Cheesequake Creek to Present Day Tyler Street in Morgan, NJ. Image Courtesy of Princeton University Library. http:\/\/gisserver.princeton.edu:81\/navigatorMapViewer.htm?map=16630<\/p><\/div>\n

Let\u2019s start with where the JCT crossed Cheesequake Creek.\u00a0 You can see images of the two different bridges (one replaced the other) by clicking on <\/span>this Morgan-NJ.org link about the Bridges of Cheesequake Creek<\/a>.\u00a0 Right after crossing Cheesequake Creek, the trolley would climb up the <\/span>JCT trestle<\/a> in order to be able to cross over the New York & Long Branch (NY&LB) Rail Road.\u00a0 The option to build a trestle and bridge, versus having a grade level crossing of the trolley with the railroad, was most likely selected for a number of reasons.\u00a0 The first would have been that the railroad wasn\u2019t interested in anything having to do with the trolley which the railroad viewed as a form of competition.\u00a0 Railroads of the day did their best to do anything to slow down the building and extension of trolley lines \u2013 especially when it came to where the two sets of tracks would need to cross. In this area of Morgan, the only possible place to have had a grade level crossing of the NY&LB RR would have been where present day Old Spye Road ends at the railroad tracks.\u00a0 If this option had been selected, another issue the trolley would have faced was the width of what is now Old Spye Road as it goes up the hill to meet up with present day Route 35.\u00a0 It would have been pretty narrow to support both a road and a trolley.\u00a0 Hence the trestle and bridge over the railroad.\u00a0 It would have been more convenient however for the passengers that needed\/wanted to transfer between the two methods of transportation if the railroad and the trolley lines actually intersected.\u00a0 The intersection would have been right at the <\/span>NY&LB\u2019s Morgan Station<\/a>.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t occur which meant that those that wanted to transfer needed to walk on the causeway dam across the original mouth of the Cheesequake Creek between Morgan Station and the <\/span>trolley stop at the base of the trestle at Morgan Bridge<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

So the Jersey Central Traction Company trolley crossing over the New York and Long Branch Railroad was done via the truss bridge shown at the top of this page.\u00a0 After the trolley line ended service in the summer of 1923, this bridge was replaced in 1924 by the current Pratt truss bridge<\/a> which, nearly 90 years later, still supports the two north bound lanes of Route 35.<\/p>\n

Now at the top of \u201cMorgan Heights\u201d (an old phrase I also had never heard in my two decades living on the bluff), the trolley right-of-way crossed over Cliff Avenue, Morgan Avenue, First Street, Haussling Place, and Main Street (now known as Tyler Street) before straightening out by what is now Midland Avenue. This pathway is now occupied by the north bound lanes of Route 35.<\/p>\n

\"Preserve<\/a>

Where the South Amboy and Keyport Turnpike Curved into Present Day Old Spye Road in Morgan, NJ. From the August 1922 Wessco Reality Company Map of Bayview Manor \u2013 Section 4. Surveyed by Mason + Smith, Civil Engineers, 309 Madison Av, Perth Amboy, N.J. and Traced from the Original on October 10th, 1939 for W. P. A. Project 6385-12. Map No. 1006, File No. 584, Filed Mar. 13, 1923. Image Courtesy of Joseph A. Grabas, CTP.<\/p><\/div>\n

From Midland Avenue and going west, the trolley line stayed on the north side of what was known then as the \u201cCounty Road\u201d or \u201cAmboy to Keyport Road.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Where<\/a>

Where the South Amboy and Keyport Turnpike Curved in the pre-Route 35 Days in Morgan, NJ. From the 1918 Map Showing General Location of the Lines of the New York Telephone Co. Inside the Plant of the T. A. Gillespie Plant. Image Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.<\/p><\/div>\n

Right about where present day Dolan Avenue is located, the JCT crossed over the older configuration of South Pine Avenue onto the west side of South Pine Avenue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Pine<\/a>

Pine Avenue at the Intersections of Liberty Street and Luke Street in Morgan, NJ. From the August 1917 Wessco Reality Company Map of Bayview Manor \u2013 Section Two A. Surveyed by A. T. McMichael, Civil Engineer, Post Office B\u2019ldg, South Amboy, N.J. and Traced from a Blueprint on June 20, 1939 for W. P. A. Project 3025-12. Map No. 915, File No. 456, Filed Feb 4, 1920. Image Courtesy of Joseph A. Grabas, CTP.<\/p><\/div>\n

From this point, the JCT stayed on the west side of South Pine Avenue as it headed to South Amboy. \u00a0This is the part which gets interesting, however.\u00a0 At some point, the JCT made a 90 degree left turn (west) off of present day South Pine Avenue then, after a little over 100 yards, made another 90 degree right turn (north) in order to connect with Feltus Street.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have a map confirming exactly where this set of turns occurred (like we thought we didn\u2019t have) you could make a good guess using these other references:<\/span><\/p>\n