Franklin Park Waiting Room
Dorchester Illustration 2638
Today’s photo shows the Franklin Park waiting room where people waited for streetcars. The photo is dated 1895. The building was on the east side of Blue Hill Avenue between Columbia Road and Ellington streets.
In 1887, four Boston horse car railway companies merged under the name West End Street Railway; the new company became one of the largest street railway systems in the world.
As streetcar lines were extended farther out from the city center, construction of housing grew by leaps and bounds. In the 1880s, the streetcars were drawn by horses. In the early 1890s, the cars were converted to electric power by stringing wires from poles, allowing trolleys to travel along the rail system.