", Wilgoren, Debbi. "Streetcars Set to Run Again in the District. As D.C. continues to wait for the official launch of the H Street Streetcar, local historian John DeFerrari takes readers on a joyride through the history of D.C. streetcars with his new book, "Capital Streetcars: Early Mass Transit in Washington." (Opens in a new window. [1][2], Streetcars began operation in New York City along the Bowery in 1832,[3] 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. A second line would run along Good Hope Road SE to the District boundary. [7] In 1890, the railway started operations connecting Georgetown to the extant village of Tenleytown. [24] With a decision on the fare structure still months off, Council Member Marion Barry threatened to cancel all funding for all planned DC Streetcar lines. [9] City officials said all platform stops had been constructed along the route, but overhead electricity lines, turnarounds at each end of the line, a streetcar overnight holding facility ("car barn"), maintenance facility, and three power substations remained to be built. World War I saw further increases in passenger traffic. In 1910, it began running cars along a single track from a modest waiting station and car barn near 15th Street NE and H Street NE along Bladensburg Road NE to Bladensburg. [41] Chalk fought the retirement of the streetcars[41] but was unsuccessful, and the final abandonment of the streetcar system began on September 7, 1958, with the end of the North Capitol Street (Route 80) and Maryland (Route 82) lines. Taplin, Mike (February 2014). "On D.C. Streetcar: Possible Fare, Barry's Angst, National Harbor's Joy and More on the Launch Date. You can read the actual line at the National Archives. [11] At the same time the Capital Railway was incorporated, the Washington and Marlboro Electric Railway was chartered to run trains across the Anacostia River through southeast Anacostia to the District boundary at Suitland Road and from there to Upper Marlboro, but it never laid any track. [1][13] In 1892, they extended their track along 14th to Park Road NW. [95] The poles likely date back to the bridge's construction in 1931. D.C. to Again Seek $20M in Federal Streetcar Aid", "Trains, buses, new lanes for cars and bikes—highlights from the 2016 CLRP Amendment", Template:Attached KML/H Street/Benning Road Line, D.C. Dept. At the same time, the car barn on the west side of Wisconsin at Ingomar was razed and replaced with the Western Bus Garage. [34], The railroad completed its tracks in 1896 and began serving a waiting station at 14th Street NW and B Street NW. Frustrated, employees went on strike on July 1, 1955. In 1977, the tracks on M and Pennsylvania in Georgetown were paved over. History of Streetcars in Washington, D.C. Streetcars were a common mode of transportation in the District from 1862 until 1962. On June 27, 1898, the new, combined company changed its name to the City and Suburban Railway of Washington. [21], In December 2009, D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham proposed establishing a D.C. Washington, DC’s H Street NE corridor was built in 1849. In 1863 the 7th Street line was extended north to Boundary Street NW. They built a new cable car barn and began operating the system on March 9, 1895. He wound up in Richmond, Virginia, where, on February 2, 1888, he put into service the first electric-powered streetcar system. "Streetcars Return to D.C.", Young, Joseph. As part of the merger, the Capital Traction generating plant in Georgetown was closed (and, in 1943, decommissioned) and Capital Transit used only conventionally supplied electric power. 38.9056, -77.0699 View on Google Maps . On March 2, 1889, the District authorized every streetcar company in Washington to switch from horse power to underground cable or to electricity provided by battery or underground wire and in 1890 companies were authorized to sell stock to pay for the upgrades - provided they did not involve overhead wires. In the late 1950s and early '60s, as Washington's original streetcar system slowly converted its rail lines to buses, owners sold or gave away nearly 200 of DC's best railcars to any city that would take them. It complied, installing the underground sliding shoe on the north–south line in January 1895. [10] Noting its diminished ambitions, it became the Washington Interurban Railway on October 12, 1912,[1] and changed the Railway to Railroad in 1919. Perhaps the sole remaining visible trackage is the tracks and conduit in the center of the cobblestone of the 3200 through 3400 blocks of P Street NW and O Street NW in Georgetown.[63]. [42], In 1932, the Arlington and Fairfax Motor Transportation Company was established to replace the streetcar service of the Arlington and Fairfax which lost the right to use the Highway Bridge. [34] A new contract was awarded to United Streetcar in April 2012, for two streetcars,[35] and the order was expanded to three cars in August 2012. [34][35] This span was removed in 1967. Two days after the groundbreaking, CSX announced it would abandon the railway track but refuse to allow the city to use it for the streetcar project. [34] In 1906, the Long Bridge's road and streetcar tracks were relocated to a new truss bridge (the Highway Bridge), immediately west of the older bridge. The company built a car barn and stable on the east side of 15th Street just south of H Street at the eastern end of the line. Washington, one of many American cities that built new electric streetcar systems, began converting from horse and cable cars in 1888. [18] Layton Lyndsey, reporting in The Washington Post, asserted the cars would be the first of their kind to be built in the United States and approved by the Federal Railroad Administration. Transit 1470 is kept at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia, Capital Transit 09 is at Rockhill Trolley Museum in Rockhill Furnace, Pennsylvania, Capital Transit 010 is maintained at the Connecticut Trolley Museum and D.C. A streetcar would touch this electric wire with a long pole mounted on its roof. [41], On December 29, 1954, Capital Transit lost one of its last freight customers when the East Washington Railway took over the delivery of coal from the B&O to the PEPCO power plant at Benning. [64], In January 2010, The Washington Post reported that the K Street Line would probably be the third line to be constructed. The taximeter, invented in 1891, combined with the combustion engine, created a new form of public transportation. [41] In 1945 Capital Transit had America's 3rd largest streetcar fleet. On July 18, 1956, after Wolfson dared the Senate to revoke his franchise claiming no other entrepreneur would take the company on, the Congress did just that. Barry argued that the rider subsidy was too high and that the $800 million planned for construction of the remaining lines could be better used for road maintenance and school construction.[24]. Public transportation began in Washington, D.C., almost as soon as the city was founded. 'Is it really happening? The system was developed to provide electric motive power to streetcars via an underground conduit rather than overhead wires, since Congress had prohibited their use. On October 17, 1910, the Washington and Arlington, by then the Washington, Arlington & Falls Church Railroad, and the Washington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon merged to form the Washington–Virginia Railway. Public transportation began in Washington, D.C., almost as soon as the city was founded. By early 1946, the company would place in service 489 of the streamlined, modern PCC model and, in the early 1950s, become the first in the nation to have an all-PCC fleet. DC Streetcar runs free, daily trips along the H Street NE Corridor and Benning Road from Union Station to Oklahoma Avenue. [5] On December 3, 1961, the streetcar lines to Mount Pleasant (Routes 40, 42) and 11th Street (Route 60) were abandoned. [7] It was also allotted space in the Georgetown Car Barn. 1835 Long Bridge rebuilt across Potomac River 2) August 25,1835 Washington Branch of the Baltimore & Ohio RR (B&O) opens for service. [47] On February 21, 2015, a brief flash fire was ignited on the top of a streetcar in simulated service. [23] The goal of the trip was to investigate whether streetcars had the intended positive economic consequences and whether the return on investment seemed worthwhile. The route was planned to promote development of company-owned land adjacent to the tracks, but it never successfully competed with established rail lines in the same area. By 1919, the paper company was using a different power house and this one was purchased by the Capitol Traction Company, to use as a store room. ", "Return of the (modern) streetcar: Portland leads the way", "First of Three American Made DC Streetcar Vehicles to Arrive in District on Tuesday, January 21", Neibauer, Michael. 1) February 8, 1808 Washington Bridge Co. authorized by an Act of Congress to construct the "Long Bridge" as a toll crossing. Later that year, it bought the Columbia and Maryland Railway, which ran from Mount Rainier to Laurel. The Exorcist Stairs. ", Broom, Scott. The history of streetcars in Washington, D.C. has been approached before, but never in narrative format, and never by a gifted writer. The city began holding public hearings on construction of the line ahead of schedule, due to the imminent 2011 closing of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. [14][15] The project received Metro's backing. It opened lines from the Capitol to the War Department along H Street NW. This was followed almost immediately by the Herdic Phaeton Company. "Washington, D.C.", in "New tramways for 2014". [62], In October 2010, D.C. officials unveiled tentative plans to build a streetcar line up Georgia Avenue. [54] He then attended Virginia State College. ", Gowen, Annie. "Southwest D.C. Office Hours Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 5 pm, except District holidays Connect With Us 1100 4th Street, SW, Suite 650 East, Washington, DC 20024 [1] In 1912, it was incorporated into the new Washington and Old Dominion Railway and became the Great Falls Division of that company. [16] DDOT studied the feasibility of both a citywide system and one or more "starter" lines. On December 1, 1933, Washington Railway, Capital Traction, and Washington Rapid Transit merged to form the Capital Transit Company. The line traveled the length of the Georgetown and Rockville Road (now Wisconsin Avenue NW), stretching from the Potomac River to the Maryland state line. On January 14, 1973, WMATA purchased DC Transit and the Washington, Virginia and Maryland Coach Company (followed on February 4 by the purchase of AB&W Transit Company and WMA Transit Company) unifying all the bus companies in D.C.[93], Many of today's WMATA's bus routes are only marginally changed from the streetcar lines they followed. As improvements, such as balloon tires, were made, buses became more popular. [13] On August 28, 1937, the first PCC streetcars began running on 14th Street NW. [20] DDOT began an environmental assessment of the CSX tracks in July 2003. The first streetcar was horse-drawn and ran from the Capitol to the State Department. From the waiting station it used the Belt Line Street Railway Company's tracks on 14th Street NW to reach the Long Bridge, a combined road and rail crossing of the Potomac River. ", Kravitz, Derek. [23], On August 22, 2011, DDOT announced the first streetcars would roll on the H Street line in the summer of 2013. However, the railroad never actually used any such watercraft. [65] It now serves as urban greenspace. [1], The East Washington Heights Traction Railroad was incorporated on June 18, 1898. The Wolfsons began paying themselves huge dividends until, in 1955, the war chest was down to $2.7 million. [65] DDOT officials confirmed in August 2011 that linking to the H Street Line was still the option. The first United car was delivered to DC Streetcar in January 2014[30] and the third and last in June 2014. [22] The board would oversee the establishment of routes and transit fares. [30], After Capital Traction's powerhouse at 14th and E NW burned down on September 29, 1897, the company replaced the cable cars with an electric system. [3], By 1888, Washington was expanding north of Boundary Street NW into the hills of Washington Heights and Petworth. In 1862 the Washington & Georgetown Railroad Company opened Washington, DC's first streetcar line running nine horse-drawn cars on tracks extending from the US Capitol to the State Department. ", Neibauer, Michael. Local neighborhoods account for more than thirty districts, and there are more than a dozen military and campus districts. 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. [63] D.C. officials moved up hearings on (and potential construction of) the Georgia Avenue Line because the redevelopment of the Walter Reed site would be heavily dependent on the streetcar reaching the area by the time the new homes and businesses opened. [7] Its tracks started at 7th Street and New York Avenue NW, east of Mount Vernon Square, and traveled 2.5 miles to the Eckington Car Barn at 4th and T Streets NE via Boundary Street NE, Eckington Place NE, R Street NE, 3rd Street NE and T Street NE. ", Smith, Candace. Since you're interested in the history of Washington, D.C., here are some ideas to get you started: Grand Avenues: The Story of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C. Transit. A temporary car barn at the former Spingarn High School was scheduled for completion in July. Several of the district's streetcar lines were extended into Maryland, and two Virginia lines crossed into the district. Rider’s Guide. [41] The company's name was then changed to DC Transit. After the slaves were freed in the post-Civil War Era, a great migration northward occurred, and many of them settled in Washington, D.C. Due to racially segregated housing elsewhere in the District, U Street became many of their homes in the early 1900’s. In June 1874, it absorbed the Connecticut Avenue and Park Railway (chartered on July 13, 1868; operations started in April 1873) and its line on Connecticut Avenue from the White House to Boundary Avenue. Back at the powerhouse, big steam engines would turn huge generators to produce the electricity needed to operate the streetcars. The area consists of a coherent group of row houses constructed overwhelmingly by speculative builders and real estate developers along streets established by the L'Enfant Plan. 3520 Prospect Street Washington, District of Columbia United States. [5], In the summer of 1935 - after consolidation, several major lines were converted from streetcars to buses. Commuters were forced to hitch rides and walk in the brutal summer heat.[41]. [1], Using electricity from the power plant built to power its cable operation, the Columbia won permission in 1898 to build a line east along Benning Road NE, splitting on the east side of the Anacostia. At the same time, the Chesapeake Beach Railway and the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis interurban ceased operations. [1] Passengers could travel to Great Falls, Glen Echo, Rockville, Kensington and Laurel in Maryland; and to Mount Vernon, Alexandria, Vienna, Fairfax, Leesburg, Great Falls and Bluemont in Virginia. Nearby. Trolley lines created the modern suburb and the commuter and enabled people to live farther from their jobs in the commercial center of the city. The Maryland and Washington Railway was approved a few days later on August 1, 1892. [12] After 1888, many cities, including Washington, turned to electric-powered streetcars. [1], Chartered by Congress on May 24, 1870[7] and beginning operations the same year,[2] the Columbia Railway was the city's third horse car operator. A closer look at the railcar that runs along H Street NE, from where to board to how to ride. Service Alerts. The City and Suburban and the Georgetown and Tennallytown operated as subsidiaries of Washington Railway until October 31, 1926, when it purchased the remainder of their stock. [1] By 1903 it ran from the Capitol along Pennsylvania Avenue SE to Barney Circle, and by 1908, it went across the bridge to Randle Highlands (now known as Twining) as far as 27th St SE. With increased revenue and steady costs, Capital Transit conservatively built up a $7 million cash reserve. But decades later, the Metro was under construction and rail transit was coming back. 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