History of The MBTA - Streetcar Era Begins

Streetcar Era Begins

The Cambridge Railroad was the first streetcar company in Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1853 to connect the West End of Boston to Central Square and Harvard Square in Cambridge via the West End Bridge (which was at the site of the modern Longfellow Bridge), using horse-drawn streetcars. This is the same route followed by today's Red Line subway, but on the surface street network. Another streetcar company, the Dorchester Railroad, was chartered in 1854. A profusion of streetcar lines were laid down throughout the Boston area by these and other competing companies.

In 1885, the West End Street Railway was chartered. The company consolidated ownership of existing streetcar lines in Boston and the inner suburbs, and began converting the animal-drawn vehicles to electric propulsion. The first electric trolleys ran in 1889, and the last horsecar went out of service around 1900.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, two other streetcar companies gained consolidated ownership of many smaller lines. The Middlesex and Boston Street Railway came to control the western suburbs, and the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway came to control the northern and southern suburbs.