It's been 59 years since streetcars roamed Kansas City's streets. So where did they go?
Ed Conrad should know the answer because he literally wrote the book on it.
"I've always been fascinated by the trolley wire. I call it the lure of the wire," said Conrad. "It's looking at that wire in the sky and wondering where it goes when it disappears down on the horizon."
KC's streetcar went all over - into Kansas to the west, to the east to Independence Square, to the river in the north and to 95th Street in the south.
Conrad's book Kansas City Streetcars profiles the rise of the KC streetcar in the late 1800s.
"With a streetcar you could live five or 10 miles away from where your work was, and still get there efficiently and comfortably," said Conrad.
The book also documents the streetcar's ultimate demise in the 1950s, mostly thanks to the automobile.
"There were so many people that had their own cars and a lot of families now started having two cars," said Conrad.
Downtown KC became congested. The streetcar would often get stuck in all the traffic. With a new thing called buses also attracting riders, the streetcars were gone by 1957 - not to return, until this week. And Conrad can't wait to see where that wire in the sky takes him next.
"I'm hoping by say 4 o'clock in the afternoon I'll be able to take my first ride," said Conrad.
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Justin Wilfon can be reached at justin.wilfon@kshb.com.
