The Society of Black Scholars took their fourth annual tour of the city of Huntington Wednesday evening on one of Huntington’s oldest trolleys.

As students embarked on the Old Huntington Trolley, they were given Tri-State Transit Authority goodie bags and were told by a TTA member about the trolley’s history as well as the new mobile app called RouteShout.

Maurice R. Cooley, associate vice president of Intercultural Affairs, has been the tour guide each year for the society’s annual trolley tour.

“This evening, we are going to take a tour of the more visible places of Huntington, and the idea is for you all, in particular the new students, to see some parts of Huntington that probably ordinarily you would not see if you were simply a student here for four years,” Cooley said.

During the 45 minute ride, Cooley lectured about the history of Huntington and trolleys.

“Huntington is the city with the second oldest streetcars, and there are some parts of town where you will see train tracks still in the middle of the streets for these streetcars,” he said.

Alexis Tyson, senior and member of the advisory board for the Society of Black Scholars said this opportunity allows students to become familiar with every part of the city, and without it, students wouldn’t be exposed to the other historical parts of Huntington.

“With the trolley, I really enjoyed it because with Huntington, we often focus on the bad parts and what needs to be fixed and the problems,” Tyson said. “We never really focus on the fact that there are beautiful things in this city, so for the fact that we got the opportunity to ride around and just focus on a positive aspect was really fun.”

The Huntington Trolley departed the Memorial Student Center and made major stops at: the Chris Cline Athletic Complex, the Hoops Family Field at Veterans Memorial Soccer Complex, the St. Mary’s Hospital, the Holderby Landing (where the old Holderby Mansion used to stand  in 1954), Pullman Plaza, the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, the Huntington Municipal Court, the old Cabell County Jail (before it was moved to Barboursville), the West End, Heiner’s Bakery, 14th Street West (also known as the Antique District or Old Central City), the Huntington Railroad Museum, Ritter Park, the Huntington Museum of Art, the Huntington’s PetSafe Dog Park, President Gilbert’s House and the old Huntington High which is now known as the Renaissance Center.

Pamela Young can be contacted at young384@marshall.edu.