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By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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Harrison Wick loves trolleys and he loves history. So he combined the two and has published “Greater Wyoming Valley Trolleys.”

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Wick

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The cover of ‘Greater Wyoming Valley Trolleys,’ a 128-page book on the history of trolley system, along with 200 photos of cars.

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The 128-page, soft-cover book has more than 200 photos dating from the 1890s to the 1950s. The book gives readers a rare glimpse into the Wyoming Valley’s history and the role the trolley system played in it.

Broken into four chapters – the upper valley, the lower valley, the West Side and Wilkes-Barre – Wick uses a photo of an individual trolley car and captions it with the history of the car, usually detailing who manufactured it, where the line ran and when it ceased operation.

Besides great views of the trolley cars, some photos also show great streetscapes from yesteryear, and longtime local residents will surely get a kick out of seeing long-gone businesses including Fairmont’s Ice Cream on South Hancock at East Market Street in Wilkes-Barre; Lehigh Beef Co. at the east end of the Fort Jenkins Bridge in Pittston; The Public Square Motel in Wilkes-Barre; and Smolok’s Grocery Store at East Main and West Cherry streets in Plymouth.

The majority of the photographs were snapped by Edward S. Miller and Michael J. Lavelle Sr., with others through various collections including the National Railway Historical Society and the Misericordia University archives.

“There’s a lot of local history in this book,” said Wick, 32. “It’s not just a book on trolleys but of the area and how it’s changed.”

Wick said trolleys began in the 1860s as horse-drawn streetcars and the first electrified trolley in Wilkes-Barre ran on March 19, 1888. Wick said trackless trolleys and buses doomed the trolley system in the 1940s, and the last lines, those in Hanover and Nanticoke, ceased operations in 1950. But it was another mode of transportation that really eroded the business.

“The automobile really took a chunk out of the trolley industry,” Wick said.

He laughed at the fact the country is gung-ho on a go-green initiative, but the trolleys were much cleaner than the fossil-fuel burners on the road today.

“The trolleys were extremely clean. Very environmentally friendly, but nobody thought about that then.”

This is Wick’s second book through Arcadia Publishing. Last year he released “Pennsylvania’s Back Mountain.” That too was a 128-page book with more than 200 photos. The book contains four chapters: Kingston Township, Dallas, Lehman Township and surrounding territory, and Harveys Lake.

It was his research on that book, Wick said, that gave him the idea for the trolley pictorial.

“Looking through the hundreds of photos Edward Miller had was just amazing, and it made it very easy,” Wick said.

Wick was born in Seattle and now resides in Indiana County and works at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He previously lived in Luzerne County and worked as the archivist at Misericordia University. He is also a member of the Back Mountain Historical Association.

Book signings

Harrison Wick will be discussing and signing autographed copies of his book “Greater Wyoming Valley Trolleys” twice in August. On Saturday, he’ll be at the Barnes & Noble at The Arena Hub Plaza in Wilkes-Barre Township from 1 to 3 p.m. He’ll be back at that location on Friday, Aug. 28 at 7 p.m.