Metropolitan Railroad (Boston)

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.

The Metropolitan Railroad was an early pioneer in the effort to bring street railway service to Boston, replacing the older horse-drawn omnibus lines which had come to be viewed as expensive and unreliable.

[4] Although the Metropolitan was one of the first railway companies to be established in the Boston area, defects in its charter and community opposition to its proposed lines significantly delayed the commencement of its operations.

[7] The line, which offered service between the two municipalities at a speed of seven miles per hour, quickly proved to be a popular one, and in its first full year of operations almost four million passengers were carried on 116,560 trips.

[19] Complaints that the Metropolitan was engaging in monopolistic behavior eventually led to calls for reform,[20] and in 1872 the Highland Street Railway was chartered with the avowed purpose of competing with the company for business around its original Boston and Roxbury lines.

Although a newcomer to the railway industry, his firm style of management quickly enabled the company to recover from what had previously been a poor period of performance, and the financial situation of the Metropolitan was significantly improved as a result.

Within a short time, majority positions in the Metropolitan and the other companies had been secured, and in June 1887 the state legislature passed a bill allowing the West End to consolidate with any other railway operating in Boston.