Trolley memories: If you know someone who lived in Everett in the 1920s and 30s, chances are they remember riding the trolley.
The Interurban line went right by Hazel Reynold’s childhood home in the Pinehurst Neighborhood. Reynold, 87, remembers the conductor waving as the train ambled by when she was a small child. Sometimes he’d throw her a candy bar. In the late 1930s, she’d catch a ride to Everett High School.
As early as 1915, Carl Axelson, known as Axel to friends, was the go-to mechanic when the trolley needed work. Grace Thompson of Everett, 94, remembers her father hurrying from his regular job at the Car Barn to help with the trolley. Her family received free tickets and she and her mother would use them to ride into Seattle for shopping.
In the 1930s, a young Kathleen Farler, now 82, rode the trolley from her home to the bakery. There, she’d get a bag of bread, odds and ends, and perhaps a bit of pastry. “To me, it was always worth the trip,” she said.
Eleanor Golden, 92, of Mukilteo, remembers what a treat it was to ride the trolley from Everett to Seattle beginning in 1927. Her father took her and her two brothers to the 5th Avenue Theatre, one time to see a banjo player. “We loved it,” she said. “We looked forward to it.”
In the 1930s, Imogene Knightall of Everett caught the trolley at Silver Lake and rode it Martha Lake. She said it’s a shame it’s gone and she thinks officials ought to bring it back. “I’m now 93 and I wouldn’t be able to use it, but lots of people would, I’m sure.”
Shirley VanLiew, 81, now of Stanwood, remembers taking the trolley to Seattle with her mother until it ceased operations in 1939. “You could look out,” she said. “There used to be woods between Everett and Seattle — lots of deep dark woods.”
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