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The Middlesex Railroad (later renamed to the Boston Consolidated Street Railway) was an early
street railway A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
company that operated in the
Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
area in the mid-nineteenth century. It provided
horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is a tram or streetcar pulled by a horse. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public transport, public rail transport, ...
service for passengers traveling between Charlestown/lower Middlesex County and
downtown Boston Downtown Boston is the central business district of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Boston was founded in 1630. The largest of the city's commercial districts, Downtown is the location of many corporate or regional headquarters; city, c ...
.


History

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 The Warren Bridge connected downtown Boston, Massachusetts with Charlestown from its construction in the 1820s until its demolition in 1962. It was replaced by the Charles River Dam in 1978. The Warren Bridge was requested in 1823 and chart ...
and proceeding as far as Haymarket Square before returning to Charlestown via the Charles River Bridge. The Somerville portion of the line went unrealized (with the rights to build in that town eventually being conveyed to the Somerville Horse Railroad), 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 Charlestown or Charles Town may refer to: Places Australia * Charlestown, New South Wales ** Electoral district of Charlestown, an electoral district in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly including the area * Charlestown, Queensland Irel ...
to the corner of Stillman and Charlestown (now North Washington) streets in Boston. 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. 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. 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. Use of the Boston and Chelsea was soon however transferred to the
Lynn and Boston Railroad The Lynn and Boston Railroad was a streetcar railway chartered for operations between Boston and Lynn, Massachusetts in 1859. Following a number of acquisitions, the railway was a part of a 1901 street railway merger that formed the Boston and Nort ...
, while operation of the Somerville Horse was eventually divided with the Union Railroad. By the mid-1860s the Middlesex constituted one of the four principal street railways of the Boston area, together with the
Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...
, Union/
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, and
South Boston South Boston (colloquially known as Southie) is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay (Boston Harbor), Dorchester Bay. It has under ...
. 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. In 1870 the Middlesex consolidated with the Suburban Railroad Company, and a decade later it did the same with the Medford and Charlestown. The lease for the Somerville Horse, meanwhile, was assigned to the Union in 1876. 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 Moody Merrill (June 27, 1836 – December 24, 1903) 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 Cons ...
of the Highland as vice president. 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. In 1887 the
West End Street Railway The West End Street Railway was a Tram, streetcar company that operated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts and several surrounding communities in the late nineteenth century. Originally an offshoot of a land development venture, the West End rose ...
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.; .


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend Public transportation in the Boston area Streetcars in the Boston area Tram, urban railway and trolley companies Defunct Massachusetts railroads Rail transportation in Boston