Cleveland's Historical Streetcars

 The Streetcar: Cleveland’s Lost Travel Mode

Once upon a time in Cleveland, streetcars and interurban railways were the lifeblood of the local transportation system. It was the rise of the automobile that led to the death of streetcars in cities across the country, for better or worse. In truth, streetcars provide no better service than buses unless they are separated from traffic. However, they did provide the most efficient and reliable form of urban transportation leading up to the introduction of the car. This post seeks to uncover some of the history of streetcars in Cleveland, as well as the ways in which that system has influenced our present transit network. 

Early Origins

Street railways in Cleveland first began almost 200 years ago. According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the first urban railway in Cleveland opened in 1834. Early urban rail companies in the city operated either horse-drawn or steam-powered coaches, which were much more comfortable for riders than other contemporary transit modes. Each route, which generally ran on one of the city’s many radial avenues, was crucial in helping to expand the developed area of the city, connecting both Cleveland and Ohio City to the surrounding towns and villages that are now some of today’s outer neighborhoods. 

This photo shows one of the early electric streetcars of Cleveland. This year on this image is unknown. Source: Cleveland Memory Project

By the 1870s, an epidemic affecting horses threatened the stability of Cleveland’s street railways, so many companies began to identify new ways of generating power. Electricity was first used to power a streetcar by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company in 1888. This electric service operated on Euclid Avenue, which terminated at Public Square. Just 13 years later, Cleveland’s entire streetcar system had been fully electrified, under the consolidated Cleveland Electric Railway Company. 

Cleveland Transit System

The Great Depression had a massive impact on the local economy of Cleveland, and the private street railway companies were not immune. Spurred by over a decade of discussions, the city took control of the remaining streetcar companies in 1942, creating the Cleveland Transit System (CTS). The CTS Era also brought the existing Shaker Rapid Transit (today’s Blue and Green Lines) under public control. Public transportation in Cleveland during this time was at its peak; the level of service was high, debt from earlier decades was paid off, and CTS was able to construct the Red Line during the 1950s. 

The CTS route map as of 1942. All of the double-solid lines represent streetcar routes. Source: RailsandTrails

However, the transition from streetcars to buses as the primary mode of public transportation also happened during this time. Influenced by the flexibility of bus service, as well as the advent of private automobiles, streetcars were gradually removed in Cleveland. On January 24th, 1954, the final streetcar in Cleveland made its last day of service. 

While ridership remained high on the system, the finances of CTS began to decline in 1968. This was because 100% of the system’s funding was legally limited to passenger fare revenues. These financial difficulties led to the creation of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) in 1974. 

How Historic Routes Influenced Today’s Network 

Following the consolidation of the city’s streetcar network into CTS, new naming conventions for the routes needed to be adopted. Interestingly, most of the original route numbers correspond to the same routes that are operated today by RTA. For example, the #3 route, which was a streetcar that ran on Superior from Public Square to East Cleveland, is analogous to the #3 bus today, which runs on Superior from Public Square to Windermere Station. Similarly, up until 2008, the route that is currently branded as the HealthLine was called the #6 bus, having been the #6 streetcar before that. Overall, there are many influences that our historic transit network had on our current one. 

Thank you for reading!