North Main St Neighborhood Meeting - Apr 13th - 6:30PM - City Park Rec Center

Be sure to come to the neighborhood meeting this Monday to hear the update about the new sidewalks (at last!) planned for West Miller Street! We've been hearing about these improvements to the neighborhood for some time and now it appears very close to happening! This is your opportunity to hear about it first-hand from the City engineers and planners - your opportunity to ask questions.

The meeting will be held this Monday April 13th at 6:30 PM at the City Park Recreation Center on 316 Lake Drive in Salisbury.

We'll be hearing about the sidewalks and proposed crosswalk at North Main Street and West Miller Street. The sidewalk is the first step in a plan to connect our Old North Salisbury neighborhood to the city parks and the Salisbury Greenway system. After we get the West Miller Street sidewalk, we'll see more sidewalks go in along the 900 block of North Jackson Street along the City Park edge, then up and around Lake Drive and over to Hurley Park. The planned sidewalk improvements will provide safer, more convenient access to the parks for our neighborhood residents. These changes were recommended by our neighborhood residents who took part in the North Main Small Area Improvement Plan completed in 2007. The project is being funded by Salisbury City Council and a grant from the North Carolina Health & Wellness Fund as part of the Fit Community initiative. Members of the Old North Salisbury Association attended several of the grant meetings and were instrumental in having Salisbury become a grant recipient.

This is an exciting time for our community and we hope you will find the time to attend this meeting to both show your support and learn more about the whole process. Please come! The more we know, the more we can help initiate more improvements like this in the Old North Salisbury - North Main Street neighborhood.

We hope to see you there!

Old North Salisbury's Tripp Edwards at the Blue Vine Tonight!

Our own Old North Salisbury neighbor, Tripp Edwards, will be playing his original music at the Blue Vine on South Main St in Salisbury tonight from 9 - midnight. Don't know Tripp, from N. Jackson St, or his music? Tripp is co-owner/founder of Stringfellows Music on North Main St. in Salisbury. You can get a sneak preview listen to his music at these sites:

http://www.trippedwards.com/

www.myspace.com/trippedwardsmusic

www.facebook.com/pages/Tripp-Edwards/36754727345

And on iTunes!

So put on your galoshes (yes - it's a rainy nite!) and get out there and have a great time!

More Trolley Pictures from Salisbury Early 1900's

This picture was taken looking north on Main Street from a little bit south of the Square or the intersection of Main and Innes Streets. The "tall" building you see in the background is currently where Spanky's Deli is. You will note that the trolley had to compete with the horse-drawn carriage in the early 1900's here.

This picture, while you don't see the actual trolley tracks, shows the electric street car lines along the road side. The 3rd picture here was taken from the Grubb Building looking south on Main Street and you can make out the trolley tracks in the center of the street and you can again see the electric lines along the east side of Main Street. The large standpipe, a water resevoir for the City, no longer stands but used to be near the Fisher Street and Church Street intersection.

Ever Wonder Why the Trolley Logo for Old North Salisbury?

If you are curious as to why the Old North Salisbury Association has the Trolley Car as its logo - you will find the answer most interesting! It's not about the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer as you might think (www.nctrans.org)! Yes ~ it's down the road ~ but not the reason for the Trolley Logo!

In 1896, the City of Salisbury was primarily a "walking city". The population, at that time about 6,000 people, lived in a clustered area around downtown and could walk to most of their churches, shops, and places of work.

In 1901 the first street car line was proposed to run between Salisbury and Spencer. The Salisbury Light and Power Company (later called the Salisbury-Spencer Railway Company) completed the trolley car line from the Southern Railway Hotel in Spencer along North Main St. to the Square in Salisbury. These were electric trolley lines, not the automated trolley we see today on our Friday Nights on the Town. The company changed hands several times and in 1935 Duke Power took over the electric railway franchise here. Duke Power continued the street car service until 1938 when the lines were abandoned for the bus lines. The old tracks along the street of Salisbury were either removed or covered over.

There used to be a trolley stop at North Main Street and Miller Street to service the residents of the Steele Plantation at the John Steele House. The stop is a current bus stop for today's buses. (The picture above depicting the trolley lines along North Main Street in downtown Salisbury in the days of yore is actually an 18" x 12" poster that is available for about $20.00 from www.allposters.com.)If you click on the picture, you will be able to see it in a larger format and can clearly see the trolley lines.

From time to time in the past, although we haven't heard much about it lately, the topic of resurrecting the old trolley line along North Main Street resurfaces. Many believe it would be a tremendous tourist attraction and revenue generator for both Salisbury and the Town of Spencer. Many even believe that the original old tracks could still be under the pavement on North Main Street! Now THAT would be a rejuvenator for the area, wouldn't it!

The advent of the street car was one of the factors in Salisbury's expansion from a "walking city" into a thriving 20,000 population between 1904 - 1930. Is is interesting to note that of the attractive residential suburbs which developed along Salisbury's major trolley line thoroughfares during this first part of the 20th century (along Fulton to Mitchell Avenue - out Mitchell to Fulton Heights - down Council Street to Caldwell St and out west Innes Street to the Yadkin Valley Fair Grounds), only North Main Street retains much of its original appearance.

So ~ because of its historic significance to the North Main Street neighborhood of Salisbury North Carolina, the trolley was chosen as the most appropriate symbol for the North Main Street Historic District signs and for the Old North Salisbury Neighborhood Association!

Historic Salisbury Trolley Tours
Each Saturday
April 1 – Oct 31, 2009
11 am & 1 pm
Board at the Visitors Center204 E Innes Street Salisbury