Vintage Parkville-Overlea: The Turnaround
No guessing game this week, just a cool photo for you to check out.
Photos
It's hard for me to believe there was ever a streetcar line in Overlea; intellectually I'm aware it was there, but it seems like a relic of a bygone era to me.
Nevertheless, here it is—photographic evidence.
This photo was posted to the Overlea Community Association Facebook group by Doris Franz-Poling. It was taken by her father, George Franz.
Franz, a lifelong Overlea resident, has since passed away but his legacy lives on in a collection of more than 20,000 photos he took.
This photo, which shows the streetcar turnaround on Belair Road, looks westbound up Overlea Avenue, Franz-Poling said.
An interesting note, Franz said, is that the cars on Overlea Avenue are traveling westbound. Today, the street runs in the opposite direction.
Additionally, a number of houses in the background have been torn down since the photo was taken in what Franz estimates to be the mid-1950s.
In their place stands St. James Lutheran Church.
Did you grow up in Parkville-Overlea? Share your memories of the neighborhoods in the comments.
Janet C.
7:51 am on Thursday, November 29, 2012
I moved to Overlea in 1971, and although the streetcars were gone, the tracks were still embedded in the street for a long time. I was surprised at first to see the tracks, because I had never seen a streetcar, just buses. And yes, the buses pulled into the right side, where the streetcar in the picture is exiting. Interesting.
Robert G Pielke
11:41 am on Thursday, November 29, 2012
I recall the streetcars vividly. I even used them every once in a while. I also used the McMahn [?] buses.
Red Dolphin
3:23 pm on Thursday, November 29, 2012
Della Roses was right on the corner of Overlea Ave, and Belair rd, at one time, our family use to go there for raviolis
Red Dolphin
3:24 pm on Thursday, November 29, 2012
I had a friend named Myrtle D. who lived on Overlea, sure wish I could contact her ?
Sherri
9:02 pm on Thursday, November 29, 2012
My mother and I often rode the streetcars downtown to shop, and I rode the streetcars to and from Herring Run junior high school from 1960 to 1962. I think the last streetcar ran on Belair Road on November 3rd, 1963.
Honeygo Hal
11:49 am on Thursday, December 6, 2012
My parents moved to Overlea in 1956. I remember the streetcars, and rode on them with my mom if we went downtown or to the Northeast Market.
My earliest memory of a "Coke" machine was at the gas station next door - it took a nickel and a penny to get a 6.5 oz. Coke.
Robert G Pielke
8:51 am on Tuesday, May 7, 2013
I still stop at the Overlea Diner for a scrapple breakfast when I'm "in town."