Early Years
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In the early 20th century very few railroads were
municipally owned. One of those railroads was the
"St. Louis Water Works Railway".
When the original Chain of Rocks water station was built in the 1880's there were no provisions made for the delivering of coal or other supplies except by hualing with teams or by river transportation. When the Water Department of the City of St. Louis expanded its facilities at Chain of Rocks around 1895, a single-track railway line of standard 4’8˝” gauge was built to haul supplies and employees to the plant. The track extended from Humboldt Street, at the extreme north end of the city, to Chain of Rocks. A distance of about 7 miles. The track was constructed along the Water Conduit, running east of but parallel to Broadway and Columbia Bottoms Road (now Riverview Boulevard). At the Humboldt Street end the track connected with the Burlington Railroad, which handled all Water Works freight over the city track on a rental basis. In addition, the Burlington operated three passenger trips to and from the Water Works, for fifteen dollars per day, for the purpose of transporting Water Department employees. In January 1901, the Board of Public Improvements let contracts to build an electric power plant. The power was used for electrification of that portion of the railway track north of Baden Avenue and for lighting at the Baden pumping station. Between June and October of that year the powerhouse was built at the Water Department’s Baden Station (8300 North Broadway), as well as a small frame car shed. Put into service on January 8, 1902, the new 4˝-mile electric line became known as either the Water Works or Chain of Rocks car line, or also the Municipal Railway. The line, which did not connect with or cross any other streetcar lines, remained standard gauge, unlike other St. Louis street railways whose gauge was 4’10”. One car made five daily round trips of the following routes: From Baden Avenue, north and northeast over private right-of-way along the Water Works Conduit east of and parallel to Broadway and Columbia Bottoms Road to the Settling Basins at the Chain of Rocks Water Station, then curving northeast at that point along the east side of the Settling Basins to a terminus just west of the Coagulating Plant. Cars, which operated over a single track with turnouts, returned over the same route.
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