First “jitney” service between Quitman-Mineola started in 1908
This article was written around 1950. The author’s name is not known. It has been slightly edited for style and readability. 8-18-07
Transportation in 1950 has become a wonderful thing. We seldom worry how we are going to get around. Our mode of living is based on speed and our transportation meets our needs. If we want to go to the post office, we jump in the car even though it is just around the corner.
If we want to go to Dallas, we catch the streamliner diesel train. If we want to go to Chicago, we hop on a plane and find ourselves there in a couple or three hours.
But times have not always been so. For example, back in 1908, the very first “service car” went into operation between Quitman and Mineola.
The service was inaugurated by the late L.D. Calloway of Mineola. Patrons rode in style – the automobile was a seven-passenger Cadillac. In Quitman, the starting and stopping point was a blacksmith shop located about where the Jackson Plumbing Company is now. A taxi driver, imported from Dallas, would work over the car after each trip, tighten it up and make all minor repairs.
The car itself was a thing of beauty – open top, high-bodied with an elegant brass rail on the back of the driver’s seat, and brass fittings and gadgets all over the car.
The least inviting thing about the whole experience was the road. It was largely a continuous sand bed with a few clay hills interrupting the knee-deep sand. The road featured one turn after another. The car performed admirably when it was speeding along at 15 to 20 miles an hour. The trip from Quitman to Mineola usually took 40 minutes with no mishaps.
Of course, any time spent at the terminal in Mineola or in Quitman was not counted in the trip “time” – and all hands were as busy as could be to keep things running smoothly so that the automobile could make as many trips a day as possible. Fare for the novel experience was $2.50 for the round trip.
The trip to Mineola was always a thrilling experience – even though no motor trouble was encountered and no tire blow outs were experienced. This was due to the fact that just north of Mineola, the road branched into about six paths through a grove of oak trees. These trees were so close together that the trunks were scarred by the constant scraping of the “single trees” on the wagons as they passed by.
In the area of the trees, the sand was less deep, so for an added thrill, the chauffeur opened up the Cadillac to a top speed of about 25 miles an hour. He whipped through the oak trees with such daring that the passengers, hanging on for dear life, pulled the brass rail from the back of the front seat!
According to some old timers, M. M. Wheeler of Winnsboro owned the first private automobile in the county. Other pioneer motorists included Dr. Sam Hart of Mineola, Dr. Will Baber and George Hurdle of Winnsboro, E.Q. Shamburger of Pine Mills and Herb Wilder of Quitman.
In those days, the speed of the automobile was not as important as its pulling power. The proving grounds for this in Wood County were Billy Goat Hill in Quitman and Vance Hill, situated east of Mineola.
(Ed. Note: In another account, a woman recalls her childhood trips in her grandfather’s ox-drawn wagon, from Quitman to Mineola. Instead of the 40 minutes mentioned above, these trips took several hours – so the slow but steady arrival of the automobile was a real boon to county citizens and to rural residents all over the nation.)
