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The first subway system in Western hemisphere was in Boston. Thomas Williams started a ferry service between the North End and Charlestown. Late in the 1700s stagecoach connected Boston and Cambridge.

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They went faster 10-15 miles per hour but before electric powered streetcars the trains went 5-6 miles per hour. They could carry more people per trip. Whitney created an electric train route from Allston’s Braintree Street to Back Bay’s Park Square.

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1897: The Hemisphere’s First Subway Emerges

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1897: The Hemisphere’s First Subway Emerges

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The Tremont Street Subway started running  Wednesday, September 1, 1897. Boston’s mayor recommended four elevated railway lines and a tunnel for streetcars under Tremont Street.

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Boston Elavated Railway Company built 7 miles of olive green elevated track, 10 elevated stations, and two large multilevel terminals. At 5 a.m. on Monday, June 10 1901, the main elevated line opened up between Roxbury’s Dudley square and Charlestown’s Sullivan Square.

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The quasi-governmental Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) took over EI in 1947. The region’s mass transit was becoming too crowded there was not enough space.

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In 1957, the MTA expanded the Newton Highlands Branch of the Boston and Albany railroad, with service beginning in 1959. The number of car commuters grew because more people started taking the train.

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Due to increase in gas prices, T ridership rose during the 1970. December 6, 1980, the T even shut down for a day due to a lack of funds. By 2009, the MBTA was put under the Massachusetts Department of Transpertation.