The Modern Age: Electric Trolley

In 1908, Medina gained a new mode of transportation with the electric trolley, originally known as the Buffalo, Lockport & Rochester Railway. The line paralleled the railroad to Salt Works Road and crossed West Center Street along the canal, but protests from influential residents of West Center Street against tracks on their quiet residential street led to a reroute to Commercial Street, where riots broke out at the news. The rerouted line ran on Commercial and Main Streets to the four corners, then turned east on East Center Street, with stops at 420 Main Street at what was then Callaghan & Sutter's Store and at a depot on East Center Street. Passengers could travel east to Rochester or west to Buffalo and beyond. Medina Village Trustees also gave permission in the early 1900's for trolley service on several village streets, though that plan did not materialize. The line operated for many years, but use declined by the late 1920's, and with growing competition from automobiles and trucks, service ended at midnight on April 30, 1931. Albert Lewis Swett, born in 1850 as one of 14 children, became a leading force in Medina's electrical development. When the Civil War began, his father and older brother enlisted, leaving his mother and four children to manage the farm, with Albert doing so at age eleven. At age 15 he became a grocery clerk and later built successful businesses including the A.L. Sweet Iron Works and the A. L. Sweet Electric Light & Power Company. By harnessing the power of Medina's Glenwood Lake and Waterport's Lake Alice, his company supplied electricity not only to Medina and his factories but also to Albion, Holley, Brockport, Lyndonville, Somerset, and Barker. A.L. Sweet died in 1924.

Medina, New York · United States