A Streetcar City: Washington, D.C., 1900
The Trolley and Daily Life
American cities in the 19th century were walking cities—most residents worked and shopped close to where they lived. But as electric streetcar (trolley) systems were built in the 1880s, 1890s, and early 1900s, cities expanded. Many white city dwellers moved to new trolley suburbs; streetcars made it easy to travel greater distances to work, shop, and socialize in town. City streets and the patterns of people’s daily lives changed.
In Washington, streetcars turned outlying areas into new neighborhoods. Real estate developers often built streetcar lines to promote new suburban communities. Their success in selling the suburbs to middle-class workers changed neighborhood life and the rhythms of the city. The trolley also connected Washingtonians to the city’s largest public market. There, shoppers could find produce and meat from regional farms, fruits and vegetables from across the country, as well as a few products—such as bananas—from overseas.
Look at the bicycle between the horse and the streetcar.
Overman bicycle, 1889
The 1890s saw a great boom in bicycling. As the first personal mechanical mode of transportation, the bicycle gave both men and women a thrilling sense of freedom. Cycling was a popular way to get around the city, and on weekends many bike enthusiasts went for rides in the country. Bicyclists played a major role in lobbying for road improvements.
What Happened to the Streetcars?
In the early 1900s streetcars and electric interurban systems helped fill the nation's transportation needs. By 1917 there were 45,000 miles of transit track in the country and millions of streetcar riders. But over the next few decades, the limitations of streetcar systems, government and corporate policies and actions, consumer choice, and the development of alternatives—especially the bus and the car—helped make trolleys obsolete.
Buses started to replace trolleys in the 1910s. Many commuters considered buses a modern, comfortable, even luxurious replacement for rickety, uncomfortable trolleys. Buses made business sense for transit companies; they were more flexible and cheaper to run than streetcars. In a few cities, auto and auto-supply companies, including General Motors, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and Standard Oil of California, bought an interest in transit companies and encouraged the conversion from streetcar to bus. But many cities made the choice to switch without this influence, and by 1937, half of the U.S. cities that had public transit were served by buses alone.
Most importantly, Americans chose another alternative: the automobile. Cars became the commuter option of choice for the growing number of people who could afford them. In Washington, D.C., the last streetcar ran in 1962.
