Climbing the hills to the new parts of the city was difficult for horses, but electric streetcars could do it easily. [12] After 1888, many cities, including Washington, turned to electric-powered streetcars. [53] For $2.2 million they bought a company with $7 million in cash. "How Many Streetcars Will H Street Get? The Colorado Avenue Terminal on 14th Street NW is still in use as a Metrobus stop and the Calvert Street loop just east of the Duke Ellington Bridge is still used as a Metrobus turnaround loop. Nearby. ", District of Columbia Department of Transportation, American Public Transportation Association, National Infrastructure Investments — Consolidated Appropriations Act, Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District, "D.C. Picks Firm to Run First Streetcar Line", "Details Emerge for D.C. Streetcars, Set to Begin in 2012", "Anacostia Streetcar Track Installation Begins", Halsey III, Ashley. ", DeBonis, Mike. The new station (address: 1204 N. Pennsylvania Avenue) extended along 12th Street NW from Pennsylvania Avenue NW to D Street NW, near the site of the present Federal Triangle Metro station and on the opposite side of 12th Street from the Post Office building.[34][37]. DC Streetcar The DC Streetcar started passenger service Saturday, February 27, 2016, with the H Street/Benning Road, NE, line. [11], In the late 1990s, Metro began considering a series of rapid bus, light rail, and streetcar projects throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region as a means of providing intra-city and intra-regional mass transit and to meet the transit needs of the quickly growing population of the area. ", Schwartzman, Paul. "New Residences, Stores To Transform H Street. [57], After the system was abandoned, most of the cars were either destroyed or sold. 3520 Prospect Street Washington, District of Columbia United States. The Capital Traction Company Powerhouse in Georgetown was torn down in 1968; the land it sat on is now part of the. It expanded to full operations from the Navy Yard to Georgetown on October 2, 1862. [22] Later, between 1903 and 1917, a line was added running south on 3rd St NW and west on Kennedy St NW to Colorado Avenue where it connected to Capital Traction's 14th Street line. In 1890 they bought the former Boundary and Silver Spring line from the Metropolitan, but continued to operate it as a horse line. The city's first motorized streetcars began service in 1888 and generated growth in areas of the District beyond the City of Washington's original boundaries. "D.C. Cancels Proposed Streetcar Deal. 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]. But decades later, the Metro was under construction and rail transit was coming back. [32] In April 2009, DDOT announced that the Anacostia streetcar line would not be complete until at least 2012. The board of directors of the Downtown BID proposed a self-imposed $258 million tax on hotels and commercial property within the district to fund BID projects, which included the streetcar design proposal. There are more than fifty historic districts in Washington, including the monumental civic complexes of the National Mall and Federal Triangle. In 1873 it purchased the Boundary and Silver Spring Railway (chartered on January 19, 1872) and used its charter to build north on what is now Georgia Avenue. DDOT opened bids for the now-$45 million contract to construct the Anacostia Line's tracks and infrastructure in August 2008. [7] The streetcars traveled from the Arsenal and crossed the Navy Yard Bridge to Uniontown (now Historic Anacostia) to Nichols Avenue SE (now Martin Luther King Avenue) and V Street SE where a car barn and stables were maintained by the company. Pleasant Line in December 1961, the Dupont Circle streetcar stations were used as a civil defense storage area for a few years and then left empty again. It served as the home to the. In late August 2011, DDOT announced the H Street Line would begin operation in the summer of 2013. Streetcars followed 23 years later, creating a successful business center and encouraging development in the neighborhood. 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. [5] On December 3, 1961, the streetcar lines to Mount Pleasant (Routes 40, 42) and 11th Street (Route 60) were abandoned. After three years, streetcars forced the chariots out of business. ", "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. The DC Streetcar hours of service are below: ", Kravitz, Derek. It ran horse-drawn streetcars along Pennsylvania Avenue, and was an instant hit. [22] The board would oversee the establishment of routes and transit fares. Transit 1304 is kept at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine. 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. 1) February 8, 1808 Washington Bridge Co. authorized by an Act of Congress to construct the "Long Bridge" as a toll crossing. [20] In 1897 it experimented with the "Brown System", which used magnets in boxes to relay power instead of overhead or underground lines, and with double trolley lines over the Navy Yard Bridge. The Dupont Circle streetcar station tunnel entrances, located where the medians of Connecticut Avenue NW now stand, north of N Street NW, and between R Street NW and S Street NW, were filled in and paved over in August 1964, leaving only the traffic tunnel. Transit 1101 and 1540, Capital Transit 509, 522, 766 and 1430, and Washington Railway 650, are preserved at the National Capital Trolley Museum in the Washington suburbs. "Washington, D.C.", in "New tramways for 2014". [6][60], On August 26, 2010, DDOT officials ordered construction of the Anacostia Line shut down after city officials refused to extend the construction contract or give a new contract to another firm. A second line would run along Good Hope Road SE to the District boundary. The streetcars are the first to run in the District of Columbia since the dismantling of the previous streetcar system in 1962. Taxis based and operating in the boundaries of the District of Columbia charged their fares with a zone system instead of taximeters, which is still in use. Streetcar Lines criss-crossed the city from 1862 to 1962. After the March 2, 1889, law passed, the Washington and Georgetown began installing an underground cable system. This was followed almost immediately by the Herdic Phaeton Company. [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. And local historian John DeFerrari’s new book, Capital Streetcars: Early Mass Transit in Washington, D.C., takes us on a joyride through that century. [91] In 1980 and 1981, the three other bridges along the right-of-way - Bridge #3 at Clark Place, Bridge #4 next to Reservoir Road, and Bridge #5 over Maddox Branch in Battery Kemble Park - were removed during the construction of the water main. During World War II, gasoline rationing limited automobile use, but transit companies were exempt from the rationing. North American began to acquire stock in Washington Railway in 1922, gaining a controlling interest by 1928. At the same time, the Chesapeake Beach Railway and the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis interurban ceased operations. ", Smith, Candace. [36] The Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad was chartered January 24, 1900, and authorized to enter the District on January 29, 1903. This article is about the streetcars that existed in Washington prior to 1962. [46] The last Arlington and Fairfax streetcar departed from 12th Street NW and D Street NW, on January 17, 1932, abandoning all streetcar service in the city. It also expanded up Nichols Avenue past the Government Hospital for the Insane (now St. Elizabeths Hospital). The last new streetcar company to form was the Washington, Spa Spring and Gretta Railroad. [7] The line was built during the Panic of 1896 despite 18 months of opposition from the Anacostia and Potomac River. ", "D.C. strikes new deal for two streetcars", "D.C. buying third streetcar from Oregon Iron Works", "Shaw on the Move Part II: Milestones in Shaw Transportation", "D.C. In 1909 the Metropolitan Coach Company began to switch from horse-drawn coaches to gasoline-powered coaches - replacing its entire system by 1913 - becoming a precursor to the bus companies. "Streetcars Return to D.C.", Young, Joseph. [29] In 1898, the Brightwood was ordered to switch to underground electric power on pain of having its charter revoked. 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. Congress tried to deal with this fractured transit system by requiring them to accept transfers, set standard pricing and by allowing them to use one another's track. [56] The last scheduled run, filled with enthusiasts and drunken college students, left 14th and Colorado at 2:17 am and arrived at Navy Yard ten minutes late at 3:05 am. [10], The next major consolidation occurred on August 31, 1912, when the Washington Railway purchased the controlling stock of the Anacostia and Potomac River. [92] Bridge #6 over the Little Falls Branch Valley was removed sometime prior to 2000. Service Alerts. For example, the Washington and Georgetown experimented with a steam motor car in the 1870s and 1880s which was run on Pennsylvania Avenue NW near the Capitol several times, but was never placed in permanent use. Though technically an interurban, this railway utilized streetcar tracks from its terminal at 15th and H Streets NE and across the Benning Road Bridge where it switched to its own tracks in Deanwood. Another line ran up 4th Street NE to Michigan Avenue NE. In Washington, D.C., the last streetcar ran in 1962. [61] In 2014, DDOT said it was planning to spend $64 million to begin construction on the Anacostia Line Extension from the Anacostia Metro station to the 11th Street Bridges. 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]. [5][13] In 1889, the line was extended along T Street NE, 2nd Street NE and V Street NE to Glenwood Cemetery, but the extension proved unprofitable and was closed in 1894. 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. [21], In December 2009, D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham proposed establishing a D.C. Meanwhile, wage freezes held labor costs in check. Starting on March 5, 1877, the date of President Hayes' inauguration, single-horse carriages began running on a route roughly parallel to the Washington and Georgetown's Pennsylvania Avenue route. [9], By 1888, it had built additional lines down 4th Street NW/SW to P Street SW, and on East Capitol Street to 9th Street. [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. [36], In 2003, then-Mayor Anthony A. Williams unveiled a draft Strategic Development Plan which proposed redeveloping and revitalizing six blighted areas of the city, including H Street NE and Benning Road. RAILROAD HISTORY TIMELINE. Rider’s Guide. In 1914 a failed attempt was made to have the Federal Government purchase all of the streetcar lines and companies. [50] In 1936, the system introduced route numbers. The Tenleytown Car Barn (a.k.a. [41], Further consolidation came in the form of the North American Company, a transit and public utility holding company. Previously this had been done using Capital Transit's steeple-cab electric locomotives operating over a remnant of the Benning car line. On February 4, 1902, Washington and Great Falls changed its name to the Washington Railway and Electric Company, reincorporated as a holding company and exchanged stock in Washington Traction and Electric one for one for stock in the new company (at a discounted rate). [5][9][4], The system's H Street/Benning Road Line began public service on February 27, 2016. Washington D.C. Street Car Collection DC TRANSIT SYSTEM (DCTS) 1101 ☆ ... Short History of DC Street Cars STREET CARS IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL, a concise illustratetd history from omnibus to 1962, by Wesley Pauslon & Ken Rucker, 1995. They built a new cable car barn and began operating the system on March 9, 1895. The Anacostia and Potomac River began expanding on June 24, 1898, by purchasing the Belt Railway; the next year, it bought the Capital Railway. Boundary Street was becoming such a misnomer that in 1890 it was renamed Florida Avenue. A closer look at the railcar that runs along H Street NE, from where to board to how to ride. In November 2002, the same month that the D.C. government agreed to co-fund the streetcar project, Metro formally changed its strategic plan and proposed spending $12 billion over 10 years on rapid bus, light rail, and streetcar projects throughout the D.C. The American Sight-Seeing Car and Coach Company started running tourist cars along Washington Railway streetcar tracks in 1902 and continued until it switched to large automobiles in 1904. In 1863 the 7th Street line was extended north to Boundary Street NW. [1], Horsecars, though an improvement over horse drawn wagons, were slow, dirty and inefficient. [55][56], DDOT and Metro announced in April 2006 that work on the revised streetcar line in Anacostia would start again in a few months. In 2002, the city’s public-transit authority runs an expansive bus service and a subway system. Rider’s Guide. A car barn was built in Mount Pleasant around 1892. 1835 Long Bridge rebuilt across Potomac River 2) August 25,1835 Washington Branch of the Baltimore & Ohio RR (B&O) opens for service. [17], Initially, the line was planned to run along the abandoned CSX railway tracks (known as the Shepherd Industrial Spur) from the Minnesota Avenue Metro station to the Anacostia Metro station, then cross the 11th Street Bridges before connecting with the Navy Yard–Ballpark and Waterfront Metro stations. The taximeter, invented in 1891, combined with the combustion engine, created a new form of public transportation. Maps of each historic district are available online at the links below. The history of streetcars in Washington, D.C. has been approached before, but never in narrative format, and never by a gifted writer. The complex trackwork on Capitol Plaza in front of Washington Union Station was removed in the mid-1960s. [54] He then attended Virginia State College. 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. Elsewhere, the track was buried under pavement. [30] For the first time, street railways in Washington were under the management of one company. Some car barns, or car houses as they were later known, survived in part or in whole. With increased revenue and steady costs, Capital Transit conservatively built up a $7 million cash reserve. [1] [45], When electric streetcars began, several lines also delivered freight on rail cars running on their lines. Roads by Late Next Year. You may have heard D.C. referred to as the “City of Magnificent Distances”? Over the next decades, the streetcar system shrank amid the rising popularity of the automobile and pressure to switch to buses. Streetcars used to ply DC’s streets until 1962. It was incorporated in 1888 and started operations in 1890 on two blocks of Florida Avenue east of Connecticut Avenue. [11] In 1888 the Anacostia and Potomac River expanded from the Navy Yard to Congressional Cemetery, and past Garfield Park to the Center Market (now the National Archives) in downtown. [86] In 1993 one of the stations was opened as a food court called DuPont Down Under, but after only 18 months it closed. [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. [63] In March 2011, the Washington Business Journal said that the city's reuse plan for its portion of the Walter Reed Campus included a retail hub serviced by a streetcar line. Forty years after streetcars vanish, efforts begin to bring them back. Early on the morning of Sunday, January 28, 1962, preceded by cars 1101 and 1053, car 766 entered the Navy Yard Car Barn for the last time, and Washington's streetcars became history.