Middletown, Highspire and Steelton Street Railway  stock certificate circa 1891 (PA)

Streetcar stock certificate collectible!  Fantastic vignette of the company trolley number 48. Very clean. Unissued and not cancelled. Dated 18__. Circa 1891 from company records. Measures approximately 12.5 x 8.5 inches.

The Middletown, Highspire and Steelton Street Railway was an electric interurban trolley line that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, connecting the towns of Steelton and Middletown in Pennsylvania. It was organized by local capitalists to extend the electric trolley network along the Middletown-Harrisburg Turnpike, with cars expected to run regularly to Middletown by late 1892. This trolley service ultimately declined with the rise of the automobile and was replaced by buses, with the last trolley service to Middletown ending in 1939. 

In 1891, a group of capitalists in Central Pennsylvania organized a company to extend the electric railroad (trolley) along the Middletown-Harrisburg Turnpike between Steelton and Middletown.  The new line would start at Mohn Street in Steelton, the terminus of the East Harrisburg Passenger Railway. The first order of business was to fill and regrade the Middletown-Harrisburg Turnpike. A temporary track was laid to transport cinders from the steel works to fill the turnpike. As much as four feet of fill was required in places.

On Tuesday November 8, 1892, The Patriot reported, “The bridge at Highspire on the Middletown, Highspire and Steelton line is finished and cars are expected to run regularly to Middletown by next Saturday.” With the build-out of the trolley system for local transportation, and the railroad system for transportation between towns and cities, almost all passenger travel was by rail. This was one of the main reasons for the poor condition of the road system at the dawn of the 20th Century. 

The rapid growth of automobile traffic after the turn of the century caused a decline in trolley traffic starting in 1924. In 1933, the Harrisburg Traction Company, later renamed Harrisburg Railways, decided to convert three of its trolley lines to buses. As ridership continued to decline, more buses were purchased and more trolley routes closed. The last Harrisburg Railways trolley was operated on the Middletown line on July 16th, 1939, 47 years after the introduction of electric powered trolley service in Highspire.  

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