History Knox
Mark Sebastian Jordan authors a column each Saturday reflecting on the Knox County community's history
MOUNT VERNON — I recently came across a vintage postcard that I had never seen before.
It’s a relic of a bygone age of transportation in Mount Vernon, which once was crisscrossed with electric trolley tracks. The card shows a trolley car stopping at Camp Sychar, on the northeast side of town.
As we’ve featured previously in this column, the camp is a large spiritual retreat long used for revivals. It has several entrances, and the actual entrances may have changed over the years, so it isn’t easy to pinpoint exactly where this trolley stop was.
The stop was most likely on Sychar Road, which continues north to the Knox County Fairgrounds, which at the time was Hiawatha Park, another destination for the trolley lines.
McGibney Road borders the camp on the south side, but I’m not aware of a trolley line ever running along that road.
The 1896 Knox County Atlas shows a trolley line running east out of downtown on East High Street, then turning north on Catherine Street, east on Pleasant Street, then north on Sychar Road.
The camp was, at that time, outside the city limits. This postcard is date 1908, when the trolley lines were still in operation.
The entire trolley system was discontinued in 1917, and the rails dug up to be melted down for use in World War I.
Knox Community Hospital proudly supports the vibrant pulse of our community by sponsoring the Life & Culture section on Knox Pages, celebrating the stories and experiences that make our region unique.