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Holyoke Street Railway Company
The Holyoke Street Railway Company was a privately-run public transportation company operating in the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts from 1884-1987. It was incorporated on June 11, 1884 by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The company's first fleet of vehicles were Horsecars. In 1891 the company began usingElectric trolleys. As the company expanded in the early 20th century, it acquired several local transportation companies including the Hampshire Street Railway Company, the Amherst & Sunderland Street Railway Company and the Mount Tom Railroad Company. The Mount Tom Railroad Company operated trolley service to Mountain Park a local amusement park located on Mount Tom in Holyoke. As transportation trends evolved in the mid 20th century, the Holyoke Street Railway Company began to replace their trolleys with Buses.

1884-1890
European settlers first arrived in the area now known as Holyoke, Massachusetts in the 1650s. Led by Puritan leader William Pynchon, who settled nearby Springfield, the area was explored by his son-in-law Elizur Holyoke. It was known as a village of West Springfield, Massachusetts called Ireland Parish. It broke away from West Springfield in 1850 and was renamed Holyoke. It was incorporated as a city in 1873. It is located on a small bend of the Connecticut River and was identified as an advantageous location to site textile and paper mills by a group of investors named The Boston Associates in the 1840s.