The Middlesex Railroad (later renamed to the Boston Consolidated Street Railway) was an early street railway company that operated in the Boston, Massachusetts area in the mid-nineteenth century. It provided horsecar service for passengers traveling between Charlestown/lower Middlesex County and downtown Boston.
The Middlesex Railroad was founded on April 29, 1854 by an act of the Massachusetts state legislature, with Asa Fisk, Richard Downing, and David Kimball being the original corporators. The initial route proposed for the company was for a line running from one or more points in Somerville down to Charlestown Square (now City Square) in Charlestown, then continuing into Boston via the Warren Bridge and proceeding as far as Haymarket Square before returning to Charlestown via the Charles River Bridge. [1] The Somerville portion of the line went unrealized (with the rights to build in that town eventually being conveyed to the Somerville Horse Railroad), [2] but work on the Charlestown and Boston components of the route was commenced in October 1856, and on March 6 of the following year the first car was run from Charlestown Neck to the corner of Stillman and Charlestown (now North Washington) streets in Boston. [3]
In its first years the Middlesex recorded no direct passenger traffic as its road was leased to the Malden and Melrose Railroad, which furnished the equipment and handled operations. [4] Eventually, however, the Middlesex acquired a controlling interest in the Malden and Melrose, and at the end of March 1862 the latter agreed to provide the Middlesex with a forty-two year grant for exclusive use of its tracks. [5] At the same time, the company stepped into leases formerly held by the Malden and Melrose, by which it additionally gained control of the lines of the Medford and Charlestown, the Somerville Horse, and the Boston and Chelsea railroads. [6] Use of the Boston and Chelsea was soon however transferred to the Lynn and Boston Railroad, while operation of the Somerville Horse was eventually divided with the Union Railroad. [7]
By the mid-1860s the Middlesex constituted one of the four principal street railways of the Boston area, together with the Metropolitan, Union/Cambridge, and South Boston. [8] In 1865 the company reported an annual passenger count of 2.8 million (excluding passengers counted by lessor lines), which increased to 4.4 million by 1875 and 7.6 million in 1885. [9]
In 1870 the Middlesex consolidated with the Suburban Railroad Company, and a decade later it did the same with the Medford and Charlestown. [10] The lease for the Somerville Horse, meanwhile, was assigned to the Union in 1876. [11]
In August 1886 the Middlesex and the Highland Street Railway agreed to consolidate and form the Boston Consolidated Street Railway, with Charles Edward Powers of the Middlesex serving as president and Moody Merrill of the Highland as vice president. [12] With the merger, the new company became the second largest street railway operating in Boston (after the Metropolitan), and the addition of the Highland lines extended operations southward into the neighborhoods of the South End and Dorchester. [13]
In 1887 the West End Street Railway gained a controlling interest in the Boston Consolidated as part of its general plan to unite the public streetcars of Boston under one company. The railroad was formally merged into the West End on November 12 of that year. [14]
Melrose is a city located in the Greater Boston metropolitan area in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Its population as of the 2020 census was 29,817. It is a suburb located approximately seven miles north of Boston. It is situated in the center of the triangle created by Interstates 93, 95 and U.S. Route 1.
Somerville is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area of 4.12 square miles (10.7 km2), the city has a density of 19,671/sq mi (7,595/km2), making it the most densely populated municipality in New England and the 19th most densely populated incorporated municipality in the country. Somerville was established as a town in 1842, when it was separated from Charlestown. In 2006, the city was named the best-run city in Massachusetts by The Boston Globe. In 1972, 2009, and 2015, the city received the All-America City Award. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus along the Somerville and Medford border.
Charlestown is the oldest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Also called Mishawum by the Massachusett, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston, and also adjoins the Mystic River and Boston Harbor waterways. Charlestown was laid out in 1629 by engineer Thomas Graves, one of its earliest settlers, during the reign of Charles I of England. It was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The Boston and Lowell Railroad was a railroad that operated in Massachusetts in the United States. It was one of the first railroads in North America and the first major one in the state. The line later operated as part of the Boston and Maine Railroad's Southern Division.
The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) was a streetcar and rapid transit railroad operated on, above, and below, the streets of Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding communities. Founded in 1894, it eventually acquired the West End Street Railway via lease and merger to become the city's primary mass transit provider. Its modern successor is the state-run Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which continues to operate in part on infrastructure developed by BERy and its predecessors.
The West End Street Railway was a streetcar company that operated in Boston, Massachusetts and several surrounding communities in the late nineteenth century.
Sullivan Square station is a rapid transit station on the MBTA subway Orange Line, located adjacent to Sullivan Square in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is a major transfer point for MBTA bus service, with 13 routes using a two-level busway. The station has two island platforms serving the two active Orange Line tracks plus an unused third track. The Haverhill Line and Newburyport/Rockport Line pass through the station on separate tracks but do not stop.
The Fitchburg Railroad is a former railroad company, which built a railroad line across northern Massachusetts, United States, leading to and through the Hoosac Tunnel. The Fitchburg was leased to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900. The main line from Boston to Fitchburg is now operated as the MBTA Fitchburg Line; Pan Am Railways runs freight service on some other portions.
South Medford is the southern neighborhood of Medford, Massachusetts.
Melrose/Cedar Park station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station located in downtown Melrose, Massachusetts. The station has two low-level platforms serving the two tracks of the Haverhill Line; it is not accessible.
Leonard Blanchard Chandler was a Massachusetts businessman and politician who served in the 1917 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, in both branches of the Massachusetts legislature, both branches of the city council and as the twelfth Mayor of Somerville, Massachusetts.
Sullivan Square is a traffic circle located at the north end of the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is named after James Sullivan, an early 19th-century Governor of Massachusetts. Sullivan Square station on the MBTA Orange Line is located just west of the square.
The Framingham and Lowell Railroad was a railroad in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It was incorporated in 1870 to provide a rail connection between the growing railroad hub of Framingham and the important mill city of Lowell, passing through the towns of Sudbury, Concord, Acton, Carlisle, Westford and Chelmsford. The 26.1 mile line opened on October 1, 1871.
Levi Swanton Gould was an American businessman and politician who served as a member, and chairman of the Middlesex County, Massachusetts county commission, and as the first mayor of Melrose, Massachusetts.
The following is a timeline of the history of Somerville, Massachusetts, US.
The Metropolitan Railroad was an early street railway in the Boston, Massachusetts area. Formed in 1853 to provide horsecar service between Boston and Roxbury, it quickly expanded to become the largest railway company in the region, with operations over more than ninety miles of track and an annual ridership of over forty-two million passengers per year. It ended operations in 1887 as a result of the consolidation plan which united nearly all Boston streetcar lines into the West End Street Railway.
The South Boston Railroad was a street railway company that operated in Boston, Massachusetts in the mid-nineteenth century. It provided horsecar service for passengers traveling between South Boston and the city downtown.
The Old Colony Street Railway Company was a horse-drawn and electric streetcar railroad operated on the streets of Boston, Massachusetts and communities south of the city. Founded in 1881 as the Brockton Street Railway Company, via lease and merger it became a primary mass transit provider for southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Its immediate successor was the Bay State Street Railway, and its modern successor is the state-run Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).
The Boston & Northern Street Railway Company (B&N) was a horse-drawn and electric streetcar railroad operated on the streets of Boston, Massachusetts, and communities to the north. Founded in 1859 as the Lynn and Boston Railroad (L&B), via lease and merger it became a primary mass transit provider for northeastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Its immediate successor was the Bay State Street Railway (Bay State), and its modern successor is the state-run Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).
Moody Merrill was an American politician, businessman, and fugitive. He served in both houses of the Massachusetts General Court, was president of the Highland Street Railway, helped organize the Boston Consolidated Street Railway, and defeated incumbent Thomas N. Hart to become the Republican nominee in the 1890 Boston mayoral election. In 1893, financial and legal difficulties led him to flee Boston and live under an assumed name in Silver City, New Mexico. He was arrested in 1903, but fled before his trial began. He died before the charges against him could be resolved.