On April 17, 1892, the first electric streetcar service opened in San Francisco. The line started at Market and Steuart Streets, a block from the Ferry terminal and just a few feet from our San Francisco Railway Museum. The line of the San Francisco & San Mateo Railway ran out to Holy Cross Cemetery south of the county line, in what is Colma today. The line zigged and zagged through downtown, partly to avoid infringing on other companies’ street franchise rights, but generally followed Steuart, Harrison, 14th St. and Guerrero to reach San Jose Avenue.
History Spotlight
This Just In: Muni Used To Be Faster!
F-Stockton streetcar, southbound on Stockton at Vallejo, 1916. Muni Archives photo, displayed in our San Francisco Railway Museum’s Muni Centennial exhibition.
Carl Nolte: The Only One Who Does What He Does
Carl Nolte. Photo by Mike Kapka, Courtesy SF Chronicle
Cheating Muni — in 1916!
Muni scholar’s tickets, about 1916. Market Street Railway Archives. Click to enlarge.
Mustn’t Miss Display at Our Museum – and On Market St.
Poster of 1914 image by John Henry Mentz, part of the Treasures From the Muni Archive Display on Market Street and (in this case) at our museum on Steuart Street, very close to the spot where this image was taken.
Photo of the (Past) Moment: Deja Vu, Chronicle?
Jim Lekas photo, Market Street Railway Archive
Reminder of Our Roots, from Down the Coast
As our members and friends know, our organization is named for Muni’s old private competitor, Market Street Railway Company. That company actually went through several manifestations, starting back in the 19th century, when it was an arm of the Southern Pacific Railroad’s all-powerful “octopus,” famously novelized by Frank Norris.
The C-line is back!
Car No. 1, still part of the Muni fleet today, in service at the end of the C-line on California near 33rd Avenue in 1944. Will Whittaker photo, Market Street Railway Archives.
When We Actually Built Our Own Transportation
All cars built at Elkton Shops proudly wore this decal, preserved here on sole survivor No. 798: "This Car a San Francisco Product, Built in Our Own Shops. Market St. Ry. Co."
San Francisco’s Past on Tap in Two Unique Ways
Click to enlarge. Market and Van Ness, August 1938, zoomed-in aerlal photo from David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.
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