Frankford & Southwark Passenger Railroad Company stock certificate 1930 (Philadelphia PA)

Philadelphia City street railway. Very nice vignette to the left of a winged female figure holding lightning bolts and standing on a rail wheel. Issued and stamp cancelled. Dated 1930.  Measures approximately 11 x 8 inches.

Opened in 1858, initially operating horse-drawn street cars on Fifth and Sixth Streets in Philadelphia.

Evolution:
Transitioned from animal power to electric trolley systems before operations were integrated into broader city transit networks

Like almost every street railway founded before the 1890s, Philadelphia's street railway history starts with horsecars. The Philadelphia & Delaware River Railroad began this trend as it was incorporated in 1854, but did not begin operating until 1858.

Originally a 50-mile steam railroad heading north to Easton (northeast of Bethlehem and Allentown), the plan changed to a slightly-cheaper 5-mile horsecar line south from Kensington Avenue to Southwark Street and hugging the Delaware River.

This company promptly changed its name to the Frankford & Southwark Philadelphia City Passenger Railroad Company (a huge mouthful), and it was soon joined by 66 other street railway lines chartered and franchised up and down Philadelphia between 1854 and 1895. The line ran from Kensington to Southwark, and was known as the "Fifth and Sixth Street Line."

This huge growth in horsecar companies enabled the city to grow outward as more people flooded in for work, and companies started looking towards new means of streetcar propulsion.

The company was acquired by the Philadelphia Transportation Co in 1940.

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