Lost Capitol Hill: Street Cars on the Hill

As the new H Street street cars become ever closer to reality, it seems appropriate to look at  the street car system on the Hill. This final chapter of the series Public Transportation on the Hill is an overview of the system ca. 1920.

Street cars in DC began with a law passed in 1889 which forced companies to switch to either electrical or mechanical (cable) power. Although a number of lines were run as cable cars, this never fully caught on and by the end of the 19^th century, all the lines had been converted to electrical.

At the same time, a group of investors bought most of the street car systems, creating the Washington Railway and Electric Company. Although some routes still were nominally independent until 1926, they had been operated as subsidiaries for a number of years.

Though street cars remained in use until the 1960s, 1920 is considered the high water mark of this form of transportation. A map from then shows rail lines criss-crossing Capitol Hill. The main lines were:

1. SE on Florida Avenue, then down 8^th Street to Navy Yard.
2. H Street NE from Union Station to the East.
3. F Street NE from Union Station to 8^th Street
4. C and D Streets NE from Union Station to 13^th Street.
5. East Capitol Street from the Car Barn at 15^th Street to the west.
6. B Street SE east past the Capitol, then down Pennsylvania Avenue to Barney Circle.
7. E Street SE east from South Capitol Street to 4^th Street, south to G Street, then to 11^th Street and south across the 11^th Street bridge.

Street car system ca 1920. Street car tracks have been highlighted in blue. (LOC)

In other words, Capitol Hill was pretty well covered, except for the area east of 15^th Street, which was still being built up at the time.

A street car map from the late 50s shows a number of routes have already been abandoned, including – ironically enough – the H Street line. Also missing is the route across the 11^th Street bridge. Basically, though, there remains in place a dense network of street car routes.

In the next few years, however, all these were abandoned as well, as this was part of the deal that DC had struck with the financier O. Roy Chalk, who had bought the system from the city. The first death knell for the system occurred in 1955, when the transit workers went on strike after they were denied a raise. The city had previously denied the company the right to raise fares, so there was no money for any pay raises.

The owner at the time, Louis Wolfson, thought that his position was safe, as he was sure nobody would buy the company. Instead, Congress found Chalk, who was willing to pay $13 million and also accept their demand that he switch to buses by 1963.

Chalk actually attempted to renege on this part of the contract, but Congress held firm and the last street car ran on January 28, 1962, signaling the – temporary – end of an era.