Metropolitan Railroad (Boston)

Metropolitan Railroad Company
FoundedMay 21, 1853 (1853-05-21)
DefunctNovember 12, 1887 (1887-11-12)
FateConsolidated
SuccessorWest End Street Railway
Headquarters16 Kilby Street,
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Area served
Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester, West Roxbury, East Boston, Brookline, Milton, & Chelsea
Key people
Calvin A. Richards (president, 1874–1887)
Revenue$2,200,248.02 (FY 1887)
$338,817.81 (FY 1887)
Number of employees
1,733 (FY 1887)
Footnotes / references

Metropolitan Railroad was an early street railway in the Greater Boston, Massachusetts area. Formed in 1853 to provide horsecar service between Boston and Roxbury, it quickly expanded to become the largest railway company in the region, with operations over more than ninety miles of track and an annual ridership of over forty-two million passengers per year. It ended operations in 1887 as a result of the consolidation plan which united nearly all Boston streetcar lines into West End Street Railway.