A few months ago, the Star ran an article about bringing back streetcars to Kansas City. The reporter, Lynn Horsley wrote that the last streetcar run was in June 1957. The article prompted a memory I had of the folks taking us to ride a streetcar before they went out of service. I didn't remember where we started the ride, but I remembered it ending in the Plaza. Through my research I found the following clip. You can see we three older children riding in the front of the car with I assume the one parent not filming. I don't remember which parent rode with us, but if it went as usual Mom would have been left with the assignment to get in position and film us while also herding 18-month old Cindy.
To my disappointment it wasn't technically the last run since we rode it in 1956 and the streetcars ran into 1957. Horsley wrote that the ridership peaked shortly after the World War II at 136 million riders a year, but by 1956 had lost nearly 100 million riders.
Steve told me when I brought this film to his attention that the San Francisco streetcar system has a streetcar painted like an old Kansas City streetcar.
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