Celebrate a Century of the Fort Collins Trolley this May
The iconic trolley car known for cruising up and down Mountain Avenue is a summer staple in Fort Collins, and to kick off the 2019 season, Birney the Streetcar, as it's affectionately known, is celebrating a huge milestone.
The month of May marks Birney's 100th birthday, and to honor this historic anniversary, there will be a party, plus free trolley rides for guests. On Sunday, May 19, there will be live music, gelato courtesy of City Park Gelato & aMore, face painting, balloons, and a children's book signing. Also on site, a coloring table where kids can create birthday cards for Birney, which will then be displayed in the train depot following the event. The party is happening from noon to 4 p.m. at the trolley depot (next to the tennis courts at the corner of South Roosevelt Avenue and West Oak Street).
Birney Car 21 has been run and maintained by the Fort Collins Municipal Railway volunteers since the 1980s, and even though the route has changed over the years, residents can still hop on for a ride. While trolleys were pretty common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most cities eventually phased them out, so Fort Collins is pretty lucky to have such a prominent piece of history that still serves its purpose. Even cooler, is that Birneys were far less popular than streetcars, with only about 6,000 being built between 1915-1930, and only a handful left in the world today.