Back at the turn of the century people from Boston and surrounding towns enjoyed electric trolley excursions to Dover where they could breathe fresh country air, cook out at Ben Sawin's Grove and paddle a canoe in the gently flowing Charles River. But the trolley line they came on, the Dedham & Natick South Middlesex Street Railway, survived for only three and a half years. The total length of its tracks in Dover was a mere seven hundred yards, so this photograph may be the only view that exists to show an electric actually in the town of Dover.
A South Middlesex trolley crosses Baker's Bridge into
Dover
from Needham. At that time Baker's Bridge on Dover Street was
constructed of timber and the trolleys crossed the river on a
wooden trestle built right beside it. Needham Historical Society
Photo
Starting in mid July 1900 electric cars ran through this edge of Dover on a regular schedule leaving Needham Square and Framingham every half hour. The route for the most part followed alongside winding unpaved country roads. Running time for the whole line was about an hour.
From Needham Square the cars followed Chestnut Street south and turned west along South Street to Charles River Village. When service first started the railroad commissioners would not allow the trolley company a grade crossing so the tracks for the trolleys dead ended on both sides of the RR tracks on Charles River Street. Trolley passengers had to get off the car at one side and trudge across the steam train tracks to board another trolley car at the other side to complete their journey.
After a few months an elevated bridge was built to carry the trolleys up over the railroad and only then was it possible for riders to make the complete trip without changing cars.
Passing over the railroad tracks at Charles River
Street in Needham in 1902. Norton D. Clark Collection
From Charles River Village the South Middlesex ran beside Charles River Street, crossed Central Avenue and went past the end of Grove Street before crossing over the river into Dover on present Dover Street. The tracks in Dover ran along the south edge of Dover Street for only four tenths of a mile before turning north off the road at a right angle at the Natick town line. Then it crossed the river on another bridge into South Natick on Water Street. The trolleys passed beside Heinlein's Boat & Canoe Livery there at the river. The South Middlesex cars then rolled along up over the hill to Natick and on into Framingham.
But fortune did not smile long on Dover's electric trolley. Except for busy times in the summer when excursions to the country were popular, the Needham, Natick & South Middlesex Street Railway simply did not attract enogh passengers. It was forced to cease operations sometime about January 1904.
Information from Needham Chronicle, Dover Town Reports and Chester F. Heinlein, Sr. of Dover.