Old Colony Street Railway
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Old Colony Street Railway Company (Old Colony St. Ry.) was a
horse-drawn A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by auto ...
and
electric streetcar 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 ...
railroad operated on the streets of
Boston 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 ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
and communities south of the city. Founded in 1881 as the Brockton Street Railway Company, via lease and merger it became a primary
mass transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...
provider for southeastern Massachusetts and
Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...
. Its immediate successor was the Bay State Street Railway, and its modern successor is the state-run
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
(MBTA).


Founding

The Old Colony Street Railway Company began operations on July 5, 1881 as the Brockton Street Railway Company (Brockton St. Ry.) The corporate name of the company was changed to Old Colony on February 7, 1901. All of the below listed street railway companies eventually became part of the Bay State Street Railway (Bay State), later absorbed by the
Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway The Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway (Eastern Mass) was a streetcar and later bus company in eastern Massachusetts, serving northern and southern suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. Its precursor company was the Bay State Street Railway, which ...
(Eastern Mass), in 1919. Eastern Mass was acquired by the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
(MBTA) in 1968.


Mergers and acquisitions

The following companies were purchased and merged with the Brockton Street Railway Company: # Boston, Milton & Brockton Street Railway Company
Corporate office: Quincy
began operations on July 11, 1899, sold February 10, 1900 to Brockton St. Ry. and consolidated # Brockton, Bridgewater & Taunton Street Railway Company
Corporate office: Bridgewater
commenced operations June 14, 1897, sold in February 10, 1900 to Brockton St. Ry. and consolidated # Brockton & East Bridgewater Street Railway Company
Corporate office: Bridgewater
commenced operations July 3, 1897, sold February 10, 1900 to Brockton St. Ry. and consolidated # Brockton & Holbrook Street Railway Company
Corporate office: Brockton
commenced operations on September 19, 1892; leased to Brockton St. Ry. Co. on April 1, 1893; purchased by Brockton St. Ry. Co. on September 17, 1894 # Brockton & Stoughton Street Railway Company
Corporate office: Boston
Incorporated 1894, sold June 11, 1895 to Brockton St. Ry. Co. prior to starting operations. # East Side Street Railway Company
Corporate office: Brockton
commenced operations on November 1, 1888; leased to Brockton St. Ry. Co. on October 1, 1892; purchased by Brockton St. Ry. Co. on September 17, 1894 # Globe Street Railway Company (Globe St. Ry.)
Corporate office: Fall River
incorporated April 16, 1880; merged on January 19, 1901 with the Brockton St. Ry. #* Fall River Street Railway Company
Corporate office: Fall River
incorporated 1895; begun operations May 28, 1896; sold April 30,1898 to Globe St. Ry. and consolidated #* Dighton, Somerset &
Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
Street Railway Company
Corporate office:
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

incorporated 1895; started operating July 8, 1895; sold and consolidated with Globe St. Ry. April 24, 1900 #* Taunton Street Railway Company
incorporated 1871, sold 1901 to Globe St. Ry. #**
Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in some religions * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
& Taunton Street Railway Company
incorporated 1898, sold in 1900 to Taunton Street Railway # New Bedford, Middleborough & Brockton Street Railway Company
sold in 1900 to Brockton St. Ry. and consolidated # Quincy & Boston Street Railway Company
incorporated 1889, sold in 1900 to Brockton St. Ry. and consolidated #* Quincy Street Railway
incorporated 1888, leased 1889 to Quincy & Boston Street Railway, sold 1895 to Quincy & Boston Street Railway #* Braintree Street Railway
incorporated 1893, leased 1895 to Quincy & Boston Street Railway, sold 1899 to Quincy & Boston Street Railway #** Randolph Street Railway
sold 1897 to Braintree Street Railway. # South Shore & Boston Street Railway Company
Corporate office: Quincy
incorporated in 1894 as the Hanover Street Railway Company (headquartered in Rockland); named changed July 15, 1899; sold in November 21, 1900 to Brockton St. Ry. and consolidated #* Braintree & Weymouth Street Railway Company
incorporated 1891, merged July 15, 1899 with Hanover St. Ry. #* Bridgewater Whitman & Rockland Street Railway Company
Incorporated 1897, merged July 15, 1899 with Hanover St. Ry. #* Hingham Street Railway Company
incorporated 1895, merged July 15, 1899 with Hanover #** Hull Street Railway Company
incorporated 1887, sold 1898 to Hingham Street Railway. #**
Nantasket Nantasket Beach is a beach in the New England town, town of Hull, Massachusetts. It is part of the Nantasket Beach Reservation, administered by the state Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Department of Conservation and Rec ...
Electric Street Railway Company
sold 1898 to Hingham Street Railway. #* Rockland & Abington Street Railway Company
incorporated 1892, merged July 15, 1899 with Hanover # Taunton & Brockton Street Railway Company
Corporate office: Brockton
incorporated in 1896; sold in February 10, 1900 to Brockton St. Ry. and consolidated #
West Roxbury West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the village of Chestnut Hill and the town of Brookline to the north, the city of Newton to the northwest, t ...
&
Roslindale Roslindale is a primarily residential neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, bordered by Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan. It is served by an MBTA Commuter Rail line, several MBTA bus lines and the MBTA Oran ...
Street Railway Company (WR&R)
was incorporated in 1896, and merged on December 22, 1900 with Brockton St. Ry. #* Needham & Boston Street Railway Company
sold 1900 to WR&R. #*
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
Central Street Railway Company
Corporate office: Dedham)
incorporated 1896, sold 1899 to WR&R and consolidated. (Opened Westwood Park) #* Norfolk Suburban Street Railway Company
Corporate office: Dedham
incorporated 1893- sold 1900 to WR&R. #** Norfolk Street Railway Company
incorporated 1889, sold 1892 to Norfolk Suburban. # Whitman Street Railway Company
leased to Brockton St. Ry. Co. on April 1, 1892; purchased by Brockton St. Ry. Co. on September 17, 1894


Additional acquisitions by Old Colony

The Old Colony St. Ry. also later acquired the following street railway companies: * Newport & Fall River Street Railway Company
incorporated 1898, leased 1901 to OC. * Taunton & Pawtucket Street Railway Company
incorporated 1904, sold to OC. ** Bristol County Street Railway Company
incorporated 1899, sold 1904 to Taunton & Pawtucket Street Railway.


Purchase and consolidation

The Old Colony St. Ry. was purchased by and consolidated with the
Boston and Northern Street Railway The Boston & Northern Street Railway Company (B&N) was a horse-drawn and electric streetcar railroad operated on the streets of Boston, Massachusetts, and communities to the north. Founded in 1859 as the Lynn and Boston Railroad (L&B), via leas ...
on July 1, 1911. The B&N was renamed the Bay State on August 8, 1911, and the Bay State was acquired by Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Company on January 15, 1919. . Eastern Mass was purchased by the MBTA in 1968.


Communities served

The following cities and towns in Massachusetts and Rhode Island were serviced by the Old Colony: * Abington * Avon * Braintree * Bridgewater * Brockton *
Boston 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 ...
* Dedham * Dighton * Easton * East Bridgewater * Fall River *
Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...
*
Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...
* Hingham * Holbrook *
Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...
* Hyde Park * Lakeville * Milton * Middleboro * Middleton * Needham *
New Bedford New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, New Bedford had a ...
*
Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...
* Norwell * Norwood *
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
* Quincy *
Randolph Randolph may refer to: Places In the United States * Randolph, Alabama, an unincorporated community * Randolph, Arizona, a populated place * Randolph, California, a village merged into the city of Brea * Randolph, Illinois, an unincorporated com ...
* Rehoboth * Raynham * Rockland * Seekonk *
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
* Stoughton *
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...
* Tiverton *
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...
* Westwood *
West Bridgewater West Bridgewater is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,707 at the 2020 census. History West Bridgewater was first settled in 1651 as a part of Olde Bridgewater. The town separated from Bridgewater, Ma ...
* Weymouth * Whitman


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Colony Street Railway Streetcars in the Boston area Interurban railways in Massachusetts Defunct Massachusetts railroads Public transportation in the Boston area Tram, urban railway and trolley companies Defunct companies based in Massachusetts 1881 establishments in Massachusetts Railway companies disestablished in 1911 Railway companies established in 1881 Transportation in Plymouth County, Massachusetts American companies established in 1881 Rail transportation in Boston