The Abandoned Car Barn of Reno's Traction Company, Nevada

Now occupied by an auto parts store and repair shop, the corner of 4th Street and Morrill Avenue was once home to the car barn of Reno’s Traction Company.

On the I-80 Business Loop at East 4th Street, just east of downtown Reno, Nevada, there is an auto repair shop, offering transmission service and selling tires. In the early 20th century, however, this city block served as the location of a holding facility belonging to the Reno Traction Company, which operated cars on Reno’s once expansive streetcar network.

Founded in 1868, the western Nevada city of Reno had undergone explosive growth in the late 19th century. By 1900, its boom in population and urban density spurred the establishment of communities on its outskirts, including Sparks to Reno’s immediate east. With the metropolitan area rapidly expanding, the necessity of a quick and easy commute within Reno and to its extremities became clear. In 1904, a group of local businessmen organized the Nevada Transit Company, which set to work on building the state’s first electric streetcar line, a three mile leg running between the Southern Pacific rail yards in Reno and Sparks respectively.

The line opened on Thanksgiving Day 1904 after a construction period of four months. It was an immediate hit with Reno’s citizens, who packed the cars to make the half-hour journey for a fare of ten cents. With the trolley’s popularity, especially among working-class commuters and pleasure seekers headed to the amusement park at Asylum Crossing, the Nevada Transit Company began working on expansions, notably across the Virginia Street Bridge in 1905. The Company constructed a barn on East 4th Street to house its trolley cars, which became a focal point of the network.

In 1906, the Reno Traction Company purchased the Nevada Transit Company’s assets. It continued to improve the burgeoning streetcar network and expand it across the city. New lines provided service north to the University of Nevada campus, while a separate company, the Nevada Interurban, ran cars southward to the Moana Springs resort. These expansions not only allowed for ease of transport across the Reno metropolitan area, but also facilitated the development of new communities along the trolley tracks. Of all the lines operated by both companies, the Reno-Sparks connection remained the most popular, hosting 80% of the system’s ridership.

However, in the 1910s, the system found itself increasingly unable to compete with the rising popularity of automobiles. Encumbered as well by rising maintenance costs, the streetcar companies began reducing service and shutting down lines. By 1919, the Nevada Interurban had disbanded, and the Reno Traction Company closed service on all intra-city routes. The Reno-Sparks line remained open, but starting on June 15, 1927, it faced competition for passengers from the newly commissioned intercity bus line. Finally, in September of that year, the Reno Traction Company ended operations on the Reno-Sparks line, bringing Reno’s three decades with its streetcar to an end. The Company decommissioned and sold all of its trolley cars. The city tore down the car barn on 4th Street, and an auto parts and repair shop replaced it. The car barn was usurped by the very cars that had run its builders out of business.

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