HistoryofMBTA_Timeline_Bell by Ty Bell

1600s to 1800s

tlbell29_ — 2023-10-31 14:52:45 UTC

Since Boston was a penisula it took a long to travel into town. So in 1631, Thomas Williams opened the first chartered transit service in the United Sates. The first stagecoach to connect Boston and Cambridge appeared in the late 1700s.

Late 19th century

tlbell29_ — 2023-10-31 14:56:57 UTC

Boston had the largest street railway operations in the states, but that later had to change due to how reliable the horses were. A Brookline developer named Henry M Whitney came back to Boston after doing research on electric cars in Richmond, Virginia, and he created an electric train route from Allston’s Braintree Street to Back Bay’s Park Square.

1897

tlbell29_ — 2023-10-31 15:00:05 UTC

The Governor and the Boston Mayor recommended four elevated railway lines and a tunnel for streetcars under Tremont Street in 1891. On Wednesday September 1, 1987 the Tremont subway started running.

Early 20th century

tlbell29_ — 2023-10-31 20:21:28 UTC

On June 10, 1901 the main elevated line opened between Charlestown’s Sullivan Square and Roxbury’s Dudley Square. In 1930 almost 75% of the people coming in or out of Boston were using public transit or walking.

1940s

tlbell29_ — 2023-10-31 20:24:55 UTC

The MTA took over the El in 1947 this was considered “a political subdivision of the commonwealth,” and served cities and towns that were considered to be metro city. The Regions mass transit started becoming to crowded for people, and Bostonians were sick of looking at elevated tracks

1960s

tlbell29_ — 2023-10-31 20:26:36 UTC

The MTA expanded the Newton Highlands Branch of the Boston and Albany railroad, which is todays Green Line D branch. The MBTA then became a state agency in 1964.

1970’s until now

tlbell29_ — 2023-10-31 20:28:54 UTC

The T ridership rose during the 1970’s, which showed the aging problems the system had. To make sure this didn’t happen again the MBTA expanded its board. In 2009 the MBTA was under the MASSDot umbrella.