End Of An Era

It must have been quite a change to go from horse-drawn streetcars to electrics. On one hand, you could give a horse a pat, give it a carrot or call it by name, none of which was true for a hidden electric motor. On the other hand, no more horse poop in the streets! I remember hearing someone comment on the radio that people from years ago would never believe that the population of New York could be as big as it is today. How could you feed all the horses necessary? No more horses, no more stables, feed, fittings, or any of the other related industries that had been essential to urban life. Horses still pulled freight and carriages away from rail lines, but the end was near.


Boston Daily Globe August 28, 1890


Egleston Square Line Electrics Supercede Horse Cars Tuesday - Time Tables


Nest Tuesday all the horse cars on the Egleston Square line will be taken off, and electrics substituted. They will run between Tremont House, Egleston sq, and Forest Hills

This will involve a change of route. Residents along the line, instead of taking the cars at Franklin, Summer, or along Washington st, will, after Tuesday, find the cars at the Tremont House, and along Tremont st and Shawmut av.

One of the advantageous rusults of this change will be an all-night car every hour between Egleston Square and the Tremont House, starting at 11:45 p.m. from Egleston Square and leaving the Tremont House at 12:15.

This will establish a half-hourly electric car between the Tremont House and Dudley st.

By the old arrangement there were 160 trips daily between Franklin st and Egleston sq; by the new schedule 272 trips will be run between Tremont House and Egleston sq. The running time to Egleston sq. will be from six to eight minutes quicker. The Forest Hills run will be shortened 24 minutes.

From Forest Hills the first car in the morning will leave at 6:02, the next at 6:22, then every 10 minutes till 8:42, then every 10 minutes till 7:12, then at 7:19, 7:27, and every 15 minutes until 10:27, then 10:57 and 11:12 will be the last car.

From Egleston Square the last trip of the all-night car will be 4:45 but, following that cars will start every 15 minutes until 6 o'clock, and after that hour up to 10:45 at night a car will leave at least every five minutes and part of the time every two or three minutes.

The regular stopping places between Forest Hills and Dudley st will be as follows: Morton, Burnett, Keyes, Greenwood av, Green, Cornwall, Forest Hills, Boylston, School, Walnut pk, Cobden, Dimock, Townsend, Marcella, Valentine, Oakland, Cedar, Circuit, St James, Bartlett, Cliff and Dudley sts. This side of Dudley st the cars will make the same stops as the other electric.