13th & 15th Streets Passenger Railway Company 1912

Beautifully engraved certificate from the 13th & 15th Streets Passenger Railway Company issued in 1912. This historic document has an ornate border around it with a vignette of horses with an eagle at top center and a little girl at bottom center. This item is hand signed by the Company’s President and Treasurer and is over 111 years old.


Certificate Vignette



Trolleys have operated over Philadelphia streets since the second half of the 19th Century leading the way to the development of new neighborhoods and fueling commerce in a city that was dominated by diverse industrial production and manufacturing. As late as 1947 Philadelphia still had 1,900 trolleys serving 58 routes.

Eventually trolleys gave way to buses which were able to operate more easily through the congested streets of Philadelphia neighborhoods. PCC cars, however, continued to operate on Route 15, as well as several other Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) trolley routes, until 1992 when due to the deteriorated condition of the aging trolley fleet Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) replaced them with buses. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) currently continues to operate seven trolley routes with modern light rail cars.