The Dorchester Railroad and Dorchester Extension Railroad was a

horse car A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, wh ...

line in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 19th century, running from downtown south to

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

, mostly via Dorchester Avenue (the old

Dorchester Turnpike Dorchester Avenue (sometimes called Dot Ave) is a street in Boston, Massachusetts, running from downtown south via South Boston and Dorchester to the border with Milton, where it ends. Built as a turnpike, the Dorchester Turnpike, it is mostly st ...

). For several years, it was operated by Gore, Rose and Company, owned by David Gore and George Rose, because the original company could not afford to run it. The Dorchester Avenue Railroad was chartered April 29, 1854, opened in spring 1857, and bought by the Dorchester Railroad (chartered April 29, 1855) in January 1858. The Dorchester Extension Railroad was chartered February 18, 1855. Both were leased to Gore, Rose and Company, which operated the line from June 1, 1858 to 1862. Both companies were purchased by the

Metropolitan Railroad The Metropolitan Railroad was the second streetcar company to operate in Washington, D.C., United States. It was incorporated and started operations in 1864, running from the Capitol to the War Department and along H Street NW in downtown. It a ...

on October 1, 1863.Hager, Louis P., ed.
History of the West End Street Railway
'. Boston: Louis P. Hager, 1892. pp. 18-19 An 1871 map shows the downtown end continuing from Dorchester Avenue along Federal Street to

Dewey Square Dewey Square is a square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts which lies at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue, Summer Street, Federal Street, Purchase Street and the John F. Kennedy Surface Road, with the Central Artery (I-93) passing underne ...

, and then along Broad Street (now partly Atlantic Avenue) to a terminus at State Street, with no connections to any other lines. The railroad later became a surface trolley line of the

West End Street Railway The West End Street Railway was a streetcar company that operated in Boston, Massachusetts and several surrounding communities in the late nineteenth century. Originally an offshoot of a land development venture, the West End rose to prominence ...

and then the

Boston Elevated Railway 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 Railwa ...

. It no longer carries a single service (which would now be

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

) because the Red Line subway parallels Dorchester Avenue for its entire length. The railroad was one of the first

street railway A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

s in Boston, coming soon after the

Cambridge Railroad The Cambridge Railroad (also known as the Cambridge Horse Railroad) was the first street railway in the Boston, Massachusetts area, linking Harvard Square in Cambridge to Cambridge Street and Grove Street in Boston's West End, via Massachusett ...

(opened March 1856).

External links

Railroad History Database

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em Streetcars in the Boston area 1854 establishments in Massachusetts American companies established in 1854 Railway companies established in 1854