Lightning Route

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"Lightning Route" was the nickname given to the first city-wide system of electric streetcars established in Montgomery, Alabama, United States on April 15, 1886. This early technology was developed by Belgian inventor Charles Van Depoele. James Gaboury was the owner of the horse drawn system that was converted to electricity. One trolley route ended at the Cloverdale neighborhood. This early public transportation system made Montgomery one of the first cities to "depopulate" it's residential areas at the city center through transportation-facilitated suburban development. The system operated for exactly 50 years, until April 15, 1936 when it was retired in a big ceremony and replaced by buses. It was on this system that Montgomery's segregated racial seating was established in the early 1900's, which continued on the city buses after 1936. This ended with the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott started by Rosa Parks and led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and E. D. Nixon. Since the centennial of the Lightning Route in 1986 there have been various initiatives to re-establish a light-rail system in Montgomery.