05/06/2026
A Kenosha trolley bus on August 2, 1940 at 56th Street/Sixth Avenue (Kenosha News, by Diane Giles [edited]).
Two decades and two weeks: That's how long Kenosha had trackless trolleys on our roads.
According to the Kenosha Evening News on March 1, 1952, establishment of a trackless trolley system was first prompted in 1930, when the Chicago & North Western Railway elevation plans were completed.
The city's public service commission agreed to replace the Kenosha Electric Railway's streetcars and the gasoline buses then in use with a new type of public transportation: the trackless trolley. A franchise for the new service was granted to the Kenosha Motor Coach Co. by the City Council on July 8, 1931.
The first trackless trolley arrived by freight train on Feb. 1, 1932. The last of the General Motors coaches arrived Feb. 15, and 10 St. Louis Car Co. coaches arrived between Feb. 28 and March 20. The fleet then totaled 22.
The new coaches had Wisconsin Gas & Electric Co. on the sides, later replaced with Kenosha Motor Coach Lines.
Streetcar operations were suspended Feb. 11, 1932. While additional trolley wires were being installed, the city was served exclusively by gasoline buses for four days until the new trackless beauties hit the road.
In 1932, work began on the removal of part of the streetcar tracks. Other stretches were covered with a track-surfacing material.
By 1947 the trackless trolleys of the Green Line, Orange Line, Blue Line and Red Line delivered riders south of 75th Street and north to the industrial park that contained the Macwhyte Wire Rope Co. and Dynamatic.
Kenoshans rode the trackless trolley buses for just over 20 years before the next phase in public transportation.
On March 1, 1952, the oldA trackless trolley vehicles were taken to the Kenosha Motor Coach Co. garage at 5150 Sheridan Road (today's Capt Jim's Yacht Sales, 5136 Sheridan Road), headed for the scrap heap.
Trackless trolley driver Walter Vollbracht, who had driven the first Green Line trolley out of the garage in 1932, had the honor of driving the last trolley into the garage and disconnecting it. The 18 newly purchased
replacement diesel buses were paraded through the city, completing the conversion.
And at 11 am on Saturday, June 17, 2000, the first streetcar in 88 years ( #4610) once again rolled through downtown Kenosha.
![A Kenosha trolley bus on August 2, 1940 at 56th Street/Sixth Avenue (Kenosha News, by Diane Giles [edited]).Two decades ...](https://img3.juridipedia.com/602/553/1427838846025531.jpg)
