Streetcar Sunday - Nice, France

The City of Nice in the south of France seems like the ideal place for a tram system. There are lots of tourists and a great opportunity to connect Nice with neighboring cities such as Monte Carlo and Cagnes-sur-Mer. Starting in 1879 there was a horse-drawn streetcar system in Nice that provided an urban network as well as connections to those neighboring cities and suburbs.

By 1900 the horse-drawn cars had all been replaced with electric ones, and by 1930 the system had expanded to include 90 miles of track and 183 cars. At the same time, competition from buses caused many of the coastal and suburban routes to close. By 1939 only 4 lines remained operational, with a few more brought back during World War II. After the war the streetcars were replaced by trolleybuses, with the last streetcar making its final run in 1953.

Here's another view that doesn't show the streetcar, but shows that you could connect to trains at the Nice train station.

In 2007, Nice introduced a new and very sleek streetcar system. They're very unusual and beautiful cars in my opinion. Originally the system was intended to operate with a ground-level third rail, but they instead opted for the conventional overhead wires, perhaps due to cost. Although there is currently only one line on this new system, there has been discussion about adding a line from the city to the airport.

This photo is courtesy of  Myrabella

Sepia Saturday - Grant Meyers and Family

Last week I featured my great grandparents Grant and Gertrude Meyers for Sepia Saturday. Here's another photo of them taken in the 1930s. You can see they're not in Kansas anymore.

And here's a picture of Grant's family, taken around 1895. The family was originally from Somerset, Pennsylvania, but moved first to Illinois and then to Morrill, Kansas. In this picture William Meyers (1839-1909) is wearing the striped pants. His wife, Martha Haines Meyers (1844-1916), has very thin features and is wearing a dress with a square pattern. They are surrounded by their nine surviving children, there were three more who died at an early age. Looking at this picture, I notice that the boys all seem to look like their mother, while the girls look like their father. This was perhaps a little unfortunate for the girls.

In the 1850 Census, the name is listed as Meyer for William and his family. The gravestones of William's parents both show Meyer as the name instead of Meyers, so the S seems to have been added with William's generation.

Grant is in the back row, third from the right.

Here is the full list of names:
Back row: Minerva (Willard), Milton, Sidney, Grant, William, Hans
Front row: Emma (Bowman), Martha Haines Meyers, Jessie (Moore), William, Mildred (Little)

Don't forget to check out Sepia Saturday for more interesting photos.

Watkins Glen Grand Prix, New York

Watkins Glen is a beautiful place, not so much the streets and the town, but the Watkins Glen State Park. It is breathtakingly beautiful. I will post some views from the park within the next week. Despite the beautiful park, Watkins Glen, population 2,149, is best known for car races. The original Watkins Glen Grand Prix (see above) was held in 1948 on public streets with a 6.6-mile course that went through the center of town. Eight years later a permanent facility was built, and since then Watkins Glen has hosted all sorts of car racing events.