The first
horsecar line to operate in the city was the East Cleveland Railway Company; traffic was begun on September 4, 1860. The Kinsman Street line was completed in quick succession. That year, the original franchise was extended on Euclid from Willson west to Case, thence to Prospect, also from Case to Sterling Avenue to Prospect. Several additional street railway companies were chartered over the next decades. On July 26, 1884 a transformation took place when the first electric streetcar in America was operated in the Cleveland over a mile of track. The installation utilized the
Bentley-Knight system, wherein current was carried on underground conductors laid in conduits between the tracks, owing to popular objections to
overhead wires. Power was generated from a Brush arc light machine in the Euclid Avenue car barns. Tracks were of old
strap rail variety laid on wooden stringers. Safety issues plagued the electrical system, especially during rain and snow. Operations lasted less than a year, with runs replaced by horsecars. Consolidation began in 1885 when the city council authorized the Woodland Avenue and the West Side Street Railway Companies to merge. A new electric line was installed in 1888, which included more conventional
overhead line powering cars via a
trolley pole. Most lines had been electrified by 1891. In 1893 a grand consolidation took place, when the Cleveland City Railway Company and the competing Cleveland Electric Railway Company were both authorized. These were popularly known as the "Big Consolidated" and "Little Consolidated". When the
Cleveland City Cable Company organized in 1889, the right to use a cable was granted by the council. It began service on December 18 the following year along Superior Street.
Interurban services in Cleveland began on October 26, 1895 when the
Akron, Bedford and Cleveland Railroad began running from
Akron, entering the city via the Cleveland Electric Railway line in Newburg. The cable car line on Payne Avenue ceased service on January 20, 1901, ending Cleveland's use of the mode. The
streetcar strike of 1899 featured over half of the year marked with rioting and violence in the city as employees of the Big Consolidated sought to unionize, demanding better conditions. The strike began on June 10; Cleveland City Railway hired
strikebreakers to continue service, but the Holmden barns were attacked in a riot on June 20. An apparent end came on June 25 as most of the strikers were rehired and service was resumed on the former schedules, though strikers would continue to attack tracks and trolleys in the following weeks. State troopers were called in on July 21 to quell rioting as a string of bombings began which would last for five days. Management made its intent clear to hire individuals not under union contracts. Plans would evolve to concentrate on
new subway construction and consultants recommended closing the streetcar system, citing low capacity. By 2023, there were very few traces of the system remaining. The substation on Larchmont Boulevard had been converted to commercial space. Trolley poles along Fairmount Boulevard have been repurposed for streetlights, with some still featuring Cleveland Railway Company medallions. ==List of electric streetcar lines==