Up by horse, down by gravity. In the late 1800s in present-day Englewood, electric streetcars stopped near Hampden and South Broadway. A mile further at the top of a hill, developers were turning farmland into a place called Cherrelyn. You could walk there, or step onto a horse-drawn trolley for the ascent. But hold on, because at the top, the horse came aboard to ride back down again. A 15-minute journey there became a 5-minute journey back. The speed reportedly made some passengers dizzy.
Over 20 years a hearty herd made the roundtrip day after day: Quickstep, Curley, Dobbin. Old Dick died of a broken heart, they say, weeks after the line was discontinued in 1910. Decades later the last horse-car was refurbished and given to the city that absorbed Cherrelyn. You see it today, standing still at Englewood Civic Center, a trolley with a life-size horse riding in back — the "Gravity & Bronco Railroad."
About Colorado Postcards
Colorado Postcards are snapshots of our colorful state in sound. They give brief insights into our people and places, our flora and fauna, and our past and present, from every corner of Colorado.
