Okay all you Pensacola history buffs, let's see if one of you can answer this question.

Star Lake is the residential community just to the west of Pensacola Country Club.
Before it was Star Lake, that property was a very popular leisure spot in the area. It was a gathering place for picnics, baseball games, swimming, dances and theatrical performances.

What was it called?

I don't know. I thought I could be a smart-ass and look up a legal description of a lot in there. Here's what I got:

LT 27 STAR LAKE PB 3 P 18 RESUB OF PB 2 P 24 OR 6169 P 1943 SEC 51 T 2S R 30 CA 203

(What that means is that it is a resubdivision of a recorded subdivision that is recorded on Platt Book 2, Page 24... Official Record #6169, Page 1943, in Section 51, Township 51 South, Range 30 West) I don't remember what CA 203 is...

The streetcar system enjoyed quick success, and more substantial beds and tracks were constructed in 1887. Kupfrain died in 1892, one year after the Bayshore Line connecting downtown Pensacola to the Navy Yard was completed. The extension was called the “Dummy Line,” for its use of dummy cars, which were trolleys pulled by small steam engines. The route ran through Palmetto Beach, which became a popular leisure spot in the area. Palmetto Beach was a gathering place for picnics, baseball games, swimming, dances and theatrical performances. After passenger service was discontinued on the Bayshore Line in the 1930s, the site was eventually developed into the Star Lake housing community.

http://inweekly.net/wordpress/?p=7666

I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing.

So, Bob. Where was Pou Station in Warrington? I know where Pou Station Road is near Star Lake, but do you know where Pou Station was located?

I don't know where Pou Station was located. I figured that, if there is a Pou Station Road, there had to have been a Pou Station...

When we moved onto bayshore drive the first morning there ( i was 15) at 5 am the whole house shook and a train comes by. I got to the breakfast table and asked my dad how often it happened, he told me every day. I said dad what have YOU DONE TO US?

There was a little place on seamarge circle where you could wait for the train to get on to go to town made of stone,,, although by the then the train did not stop.

I can also remember playing pcc and having to wait for the train to pass to hit the second shot onto number 18 since the tracks ran across thr fairway

I recall the name "Pou Station" but dasn't know nuthins bout it.

From that article:

Quote :

The streetcar system continued to expand in the early 1900s, growing from 17.2 miles of tracks in 1902, up to 24.2 miles in 1912. In 1920, the number of individual trips on the system was 4,017,397. By 1923, however, ridership had decreased to less than 2,000,000 trips annually. Throughout the 1920s, private automobile ownership increased, diminishing the trolley’s utility for many Pensacolians. The last day of service for the Pensacola streetcars was December 31, 1931. City buses, which began operating about one month before trolley service stopped, took over as the primary form of public transportation.

I wonder if GM bought out the Pensacola street car system too. General Motors wanted to sell buses, so through a bunch of cover corporations, in cahoots with oil companies, bought up over 100 public transportation systems throughout the United States, systematically shut them down and buses became the defacto public transportation system... voila!

GM was convicted of conspiracy (or whatever) in a long, drawn out battle and was fined... here it comes... one dollar. Yep, fined one dollar.

Buses were more practical than running rail lines everywhere, but we would have a lot more rail-based transportation if GM hadn't conspired to shut 'em down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

whowherewhy wrote:

When we moved onto bayshore drive the first morning there ( i was 15) at 5 am the whole house shook and a train comes by. I got to the breakfast table and asked my dad how often it happened, he told me every day. I said dad what have YOU DONE TO US?

There was a little place on seamarge circle where you could wait for the train to get on to go to town made of stone,,, although by the then the train did not stop.

I can also remember playing pcc and having to wait for the train to pass to hit the second shot onto number 18 since the tracks ran across thr fairway

When I ride my bike in Warrington, I cross from Bayshore, through PCC, and into Star Lake via the RR right-of-way, which is still open. It makes for a real nice ride.

WhoWhereWhy, I felt the same way when I moved into a house at the dead end of Padget Court off Jackson. I had no idea that the Frisco tracks were right behind the house. The landlord didn't tell us either.

That first night the train came by about 35 mph, shaking the whole house.... SHIT!

It turned out that those tracks weren't used that much and it was kinda neat when a train came by.

I am enjoying reading along w/this thread... always love learning about local history!

Where I live we get 40+ trains roll through town each day, and you get used to the sound of the freight trains very quickly. When I was little and we were building my folks' house, which is kind of out in the boonies, all six of us lived with Granny in her 800-ft^2 house for 4-years... my folks lived in "The Little House" out back, which is a garage that was converted to a little tiny house many many years ago.

Anyhow, her house is about a block from the train tracks and when we finally were able to move into our new home I had trouble falling asleep for a long time because I'd gotten so used to what I refer to as The Freight Train Lullaby.

riceme wrote:

I am enjoying reading along w/this thread... always love learning about local history!

Where I live we get 40+ trains roll through town each day, and you get used to the sound of the freight trains very quickly. When I was little and we were building my folks' house, which is kind of out in the boonies, all six of us lived with Granny in her 800-ft^2 house for 4-years... my folks lived in "The Little House" out back, which is a garage that was converted to a little tiny house many many years ago.

Anyhow, her house is about a block from the train tracks and when we finally were able to move into our new home I had trouble falling asleep for a long time because I'd gotten so used to what I refer to as The Freight Train Lullaby.

I know what you mean about the lullaby. Our first Hoover house on Shades Mountain was near Brock's Gap... about 2-3 blocks away and we could hear the trains pretty good. When we moved back to Hoover from Atlanta, we bought another house on Shades Mountain, but in this area we're at least a mile and a half away from tracks and on the other side of the mountain. We still hear the trains rumbling and those horns tooting. There is something about a distant train horn late at night... kinda forlorn but soothing to me.

There is a lot of train traffic into and out of Birmingham, too.

When the Blue Angels are coming back from a show someplace, I can't sleep until they fly over the house and I hear them all coming back. Normally I'm sound asleep a few mintes after they fly over.. lol

Eric wrote:

From that article:

Quote :

The streetcar system continued to expand in the early 1900s, growing from 17.2 miles of tracks in 1902, up to 24.2 miles in 1912. In 1920, the number of individual trips on the system was 4,017,397. By 1923, however, ridership had decreased to less than 2,000,000 trips annually. Throughout the 1920s, private automobile ownership increased, diminishing the trolley’s utility for many Pensacolians. The last day of service for the Pensacola streetcars was December 31, 1931. City buses, which began operating about one month before trolley service stopped, took over as the primary form of public transportation.

I wonder if GM bought out the Pensacola street car system too. General Motors wanted to sell buses, so through a bunch of cover corporations, in cahoots with oil companies, bought up over 100 public transportation systems throughout the United States, systematically shut them down and buses became the defacto public transportation system... voila!

GM was convicted of conspiracy (or whatever) in a long, drawn out battle and was fined... here it comes... one dollar. Yep, fined one dollar.

Buses were more practical than running rail lines everywhere, but we would have a lot more rail-based transportation if GM hadn't conspired to shut 'em down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

It's all coming back full circle. Restoring the old electric streetcar systems is now all the rage. Washington DC saw how successful it's been for San Francisco so now they're bringing them back in a big way too.