A construction crew working on the Ingersoll Avenue street project uncovered part of the trolley tracks that once were actively used on the street (left). In the undated photo at right, a construction crew is putting in the trolley tracks on Ingersoll Avenue at about 17th Street. Photos provided by Kris Maggard

A construction crew removing street pavement along Ingersoll Avenue this week uncovered part of the streetcar tracks likely laid more than a century ago, connecting downtown Des Moines and Valley Junction.

And while the tracks are often unearthed during projects, “it’s a reminder of our city’s strong past,” Kris Maggard, executive director of the Avenues of Ingersoll & Grand, wrote in an email to the Business Record.

Ingersoll Avenue is undergoing a $17 million face-lift that includes the installation of new storm sewers, widened sidewalks, elevated bike lanes and a reconstructed street. Overhead utility lines will be buried. The Ingersoll project, which extends between Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and 31st Street, began this spring and is expected to take three years to complete.

The section of streetcar track uncovered is in an area along the north side of Ingersoll, between 22nd and 24th streets, according to Maggard. The track section was uncovered after about 4 inches of street material was removed.

The first streetcar services appeared in Des Moines in the mid-1860s, according to a book on Des Moines by Craig McCue and Ron Playle. In the 1880s, H.E. Teachout started a streetcar company whose trolleys were operated by steam. Eventually, Teachout transitioned to electric trolleys. Most of Teachout’s trolleys operated along Ingersoll and Grand avenues, according to the book.

The streetcar line helped establish Ingersoll as a commercial and multifamily corridor, local historians have said. 

Streetcars were last used in Des Moines in 1951.

Read more about Des Moines’ streetcars: In 2012, former Des Moines Register president and editor Michael Gartner wrote about his memories of streetcars in a column in Cityview. To read it, click here.