SFA

Oct. 5, 1907, marks the date of the first run of the Sioux Falls Traction System, or SFTS. That was the name given to the trolley system by its founder, Frank Mills.

Mills was 70 when he got into the transportation game. He'd made his fortune with a predecessor of The Des Moines Register and was looking for somewhere to invest. His son Dan was staying in Sioux Falls, probably scouting the location, when he wrote to his father that Sioux Falls was "a dandy town, so metropolitan and up-to-date in every way, except that it has no street cars." He suggested that his father establish a streetcar line in town.

Soon, the papers were drawn up, and the work began. In laying down tracks in Sioux Falls' streets, the tracks of previous failed trolley systems often had to be removed. One started by Richard Pettigrew had used horse-drawn trollies.

On her maiden voyage, car 1 of the Sioux Falls Traction System departed from the front of Majestic Theatre, where Phillips Avenue Diner is now. Mills had planned to make it an exclusive journey for prominent members of Sioux Falls society and city government, but there were too many interested men and boys demanding a ride to tactfully deny them. From that moment, it was obvious there was a demand for this kind of mass transit.

Mills' first trolley lines were limited to just a few heavily trafficked areas, starting with the Summit line that brought the cars past what now are Augustana College and the University of Sioux Falls. The lines soon expanded to cover a wider territory; eventually, most parts of the city were within a few blocks of a trolley line.

During the first world war, when men were in short supply, Mills hired women as conductors. In a forward-thinking move for the time, Mills paid the women the same as the male conductors, $65 a week for 13 hours of daily work. Soon after she was hired, one conductor, remembered as Mrs. Bent, who was unfamiliar with Frank Mills, demanded fare from him when he boarded her car. (Mills was used to getting a free ride as owner of the business.) Her resolve earned his respect, and Mrs. Bent got her fare.

As the years wore on and technical advancements in rubber made buses possible, the Sioux Falls Traction System started to become obsolete. Buses could reach more areas of the city and change routes without major street or electrical work. Shortly after Mills died at 92, SFTS car 26 made the final run of the SFTS to Cannons Hospital on the east side of Sioux Falls, then returned to the car barn on Main Avenue just north of the Minnehaha County Courthouse.

Eric Renshaw of Sioux Falls has written the book "Forgotten Sioux Falls" and gives a historical perspective on his website GreetingsFrom SiouxFalls.com.

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