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Deerfield Inn and Trolley

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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The Connecticut Valley Street Railway (the "trolley") offered fast, cheap, regular, and personalized transportation to the region's rural population. The small, quiet open-air cars operating outside large cities began re-shaping rural space and social customs; farm regions that had never known railroad service discovered that they might have the services of a "car line." The fares, which were one-fifth the cost of the railroad, encouraged frequent use. Trolley lines connected even remote towns and isolated villages to a burgeoning transportation network that had not existed a generation earlier. In the town of Deerfield, Massachusetts, where this photograph was taken, the trolley increased tourism and brought a steady stream of willing customers for the Arts and Crafts Movement emerging along the street.

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