Transportation

Ontario County Transportation encompasses the means of travel in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the towns of Canandaigua, Geneva, Phelps, Naples, Victor, Clifton Springs, Manchester, and Shortsville, New York. Beginning with the primitive horse and buggy and ending with the state-of-the-art automobile, this volume chronicles the history of transportation in a realistic and fascinating way. Featured in this diverse volume are never-before-published pictures of locomotives and railroads, early aviation and the Flying Farmers, delivery vehicles, water vessels, fire trucks, and trolleys.

Throughout history, Ontario County was regarded as an area of favorable influence. For this very reason, it had such iconic visitors as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Andrew Johnson, who are shown within the chapter entitled "Railway Classics." Also among the eminent persons who have appeared in the area in the past are Canandaigua native and automobile pioneer John North Willys, Geneva native and Secretary of the Treasury Charles J. Folger, and Phelps innovator Charles Lane, whose chief achievement was building one of the first fire trucks in Ontario County.

Montgomery and Berks Counties have been central to the car industry for decades, employing residents of the cities and surrounding small towns. Pottstown first came to be known as the cruising capital of the East Coast in the 1950s and held on to the title for many years. In the 1960s, hundreds would line the sidewalks to watch the hot rods and classic cars cruise down High Street. Among the circuit favorites were the Tropical Treat, Hilltop Drive-In, and Dempsey Diner. Lansdale also attracted automobile enthusiasts who enjoyed cruising the Dale. In 1962, the Maple Grove Raceway, a quarter-mile strip in Mohnton, opened and became home to the popular Super Chevy Weekend, hosting great drivers like Fred Spiezio, Ken Hall, and John Johnson. The Grandview Speedway and the Reading Fairgrounds Speedway also emerged, attracting even more auto racing enthusiasts from around the area. Today, longtime residents enjoy reminiscing their beloved cruising pastime, with many belonging to historical automotive clubs.

Hot Rodding began in Southern California in the 1930s and had spread throughout the United States by the mid 1950s, spawning the sport of drag racing and the advent of the Detroit "muscle cars" of the '60s and '70s. Hot Rod Magazine and the National Hot Rod Association promoted the formation of responsible car clubs to combat the delinquent reputation of hot rodders, earned through illegal street races and Hollywood's portrayal in "B" movies. And thus were born the Middletown Pacemakers in 1951.

The Pacemakers brought southern Ohio its first reliability runs (1952), custom auto shows (1954), and drag racing competitions-setting national records (1958, '63, '64) and winning national championships (1963, '64, '65). When the hot rodders were not busy upgrading their drive train for more horsepower or "chopping" and "channeling" for improved performance, they could often be seen on the streets of Middletown feeding expired parking meters or rescuing motorists whose cars had broken down or run out of gas. By 1966, as was the fate of so many hot rod clubs, the mass production of Detroit muscle cars ushered the Pacemakers to fold.