The Horse Car Era

The horse car era began with the New York & Harlem Railway in 1831. Cleveland had a horse car line. beginning in 1835, along Euclid Ave from today’s E 110th St downtown. This line was cheaply built, using oak rather than iron rails, laid on top of hard earth. Because this construction resulted in high maintenance costs, and because of the light population along the route, the line soon went out of business.

Although the US had a few horsecar lines in the 1830’s, they did not start to become widely popular until the1850’s and, in 1859, private builders constructed two lines in Cleveland. These lines ran from west of Public Square, east along Prospect and along Woodland, respectively, both reaching E 55th. In 1863, a line was built west, crossing the Cuyahoga River and running on both Detroit and Loraine to w 38th.

Lines continued to be built in the years after the Civil War, both by new companies and as extensions, until by1880, there were ten different horse car companies, networking the city. By then, Cleveland had become a major industrial city. And growth of the horse car system continued. But City Council, wishing to have a better integrated transportation system, granted franchises only as extensions by existing companies. Thus, for a number of years, existing companies both grew and began to combine into larger companies.

The horse car played an important part in the development of US cities. Whereas, for most city dwellers, transportation had necessarily been by foot, horse cars removed this need. It was no longer necessary that people live close to places of work and shopping, and our rapidly growing cities were able to develop with separate residential, shopping and industrial districts, as they are today. As a result, horse car lines usually became financially successful.

The pictures show the car barn of the Superior Street Ry about 1880 and a Cleveland horse car of about the same period.

Much of the information in this post, and in the series of posts on Cleveland transit to follow, comes from Toman and Hays, “Horse Trails to Regional Rails.” This book on Cleveland transit is available from the NORM bookstore.