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Streetcars in Washington, D.C.
Streetcars in Washington, D.C. transported people across the city and region from 1862 until 1962.
The first streetcars in Washington, D.C., were horse-drawn and carried people short distances on flat terrain. After brief experiments with cable cars, the late-19th-century introduction of electric streetcars opened development of the hilly terrain north of the old city and in Anacostia into streetcar suburbs. The extension of several of the lines into Maryland and of two Virginia lines across the Potomac River into the District helped expand the city's dense downtown core into today's Washington metropolitan area.
By 1901, a series of mergers dubbed the "Great Streetcar Consolidation" had gathered most local transit firms into two major companies: Capital Traction Company and Washington Railway and Electric Company. In 1933, a second consolidation brought all streetcars under one company, Capital Transit.
Over the next decades, the streetcar system shrank amid the growing usage of the automobile and pressure to switch to buses. After a strike in 1955, the company changed ownership and became D.C. Transit, with explicit instructions to switch to buses. The system was dismantled in the early 1960s; the last revenue streetcar ran on January 28, 1962.
Today, some streetcars, car barns, trackage, stations, and rights-of-way exist in various states of usage. In the Georgetown neighborhood, remnants of tracks and conduit remain visible in the middle of O and P Streets NW between 33rd and 35th Streets NW, and near an M Street door of the Georgetown Car Barn.
Public transportation began in Washington, D.C., almost as soon as the city was founded. In May 1800, two-horse stage coaches began running twice daily from Bridge and High Streets NW (now Wisconsin Avenue and M Street NW) in Georgetown by way of M Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW/SE to William Tunnicliff's Tavern at the site now occupied by the Supreme Court Building. Service ended soon after it began.
The next attempt at public transit arrived in the spring of 1830, when Gilbert Vanderwerken's Omnibuses, horse-drawn wagons, began running from Georgetown to the Navy Yard. The company maintained stables on M Street, NW. These lines were later extended down 11th Street SE to the waterfront and up 7th Street NW to L Street NW. Vanderwerken's success attracted competitors, who added new lines, but by 1854, all omnibuses had come under the control of two companies, "The Union Line" and "The Citizen's Line." In 1860, these two merged under the control of Vanderwerken and continued to operate until they were run out of business by the next new technology: streetcars.
Streetcars began operation in New York City along the Bowery in 1832, but the technology did not really become popular until 1852, when Alphonse Loubat invented a side-bearing rail that could be laid flush with the street surface, allowing the first horse-drawn streetcar lines. The technology began to spread and on May 17, 1862, the first Washington, D.C., streetcar company, the Washington and Georgetown Railroad was incorporated. The company ran the first streetcar in Washington, D.C., from the Capitol to the State Department (then housed at the current Treasury Building) starting on July 29, 1862. It expanded to full operations from the Navy Yard to Georgetown on October 2, 1862. Another line opened on November 15, 1862. It was built along 7th Street NW from N Street NW to the Potomac River and expanded to the Arsenal (now Fort McNair) in 1875. A third line ran down 14th Street NW from Boundary Street NW (now Florida Avenue) to the Treasury Building. In 1863 the 7th Street line was extended north to Boundary Street NW.
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Streetcars in Washington, D.C.
Streetcars in Washington, D.C. transported people across the city and region from 1862 until 1962.
The first streetcars in Washington, D.C., were horse-drawn and carried people short distances on flat terrain. After brief experiments with cable cars, the late-19th-century introduction of electric streetcars opened development of the hilly terrain north of the old city and in Anacostia into streetcar suburbs. The extension of several of the lines into Maryland and of two Virginia lines across the Potomac River into the District helped expand the city's dense downtown core into today's Washington metropolitan area.
By 1901, a series of mergers dubbed the "Great Streetcar Consolidation" had gathered most local transit firms into two major companies: Capital Traction Company and Washington Railway and Electric Company. In 1933, a second consolidation brought all streetcars under one company, Capital Transit.
Over the next decades, the streetcar system shrank amid the growing usage of the automobile and pressure to switch to buses. After a strike in 1955, the company changed ownership and became D.C. Transit, with explicit instructions to switch to buses. The system was dismantled in the early 1960s; the last revenue streetcar ran on January 28, 1962.
Today, some streetcars, car barns, trackage, stations, and rights-of-way exist in various states of usage. In the Georgetown neighborhood, remnants of tracks and conduit remain visible in the middle of O and P Streets NW between 33rd and 35th Streets NW, and near an M Street door of the Georgetown Car Barn.
Public transportation began in Washington, D.C., almost as soon as the city was founded. In May 1800, two-horse stage coaches began running twice daily from Bridge and High Streets NW (now Wisconsin Avenue and M Street NW) in Georgetown by way of M Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW/SE to William Tunnicliff's Tavern at the site now occupied by the Supreme Court Building. Service ended soon after it began.
The next attempt at public transit arrived in the spring of 1830, when Gilbert Vanderwerken's Omnibuses, horse-drawn wagons, began running from Georgetown to the Navy Yard. The company maintained stables on M Street, NW. These lines were later extended down 11th Street SE to the waterfront and up 7th Street NW to L Street NW. Vanderwerken's success attracted competitors, who added new lines, but by 1854, all omnibuses had come under the control of two companies, "The Union Line" and "The Citizen's Line." In 1860, these two merged under the control of Vanderwerken and continued to operate until they were run out of business by the next new technology: streetcars.
Streetcars began operation in New York City along the Bowery in 1832, but the technology did not really become popular until 1852, when Alphonse Loubat invented a side-bearing rail that could be laid flush with the street surface, allowing the first horse-drawn streetcar lines. The technology began to spread and on May 17, 1862, the first Washington, D.C., streetcar company, the Washington and Georgetown Railroad was incorporated. The company ran the first streetcar in Washington, D.C., from the Capitol to the State Department (then housed at the current Treasury Building) starting on July 29, 1862. It expanded to full operations from the Navy Yard to Georgetown on October 2, 1862. Another line opened on November 15, 1862. It was built along 7th Street NW from N Street NW to the Potomac River and expanded to the Arsenal (now Fort McNair) in 1875. A third line ran down 14th Street NW from Boundary Street NW (now Florida Avenue) to the Treasury Building. In 1863 the 7th Street line was extended north to Boundary Street NW.