 | This article needs to be updated. (October 2018) |
Like most large cities in the United States, there existed a large network of streetcars in Cleveland in the first half of the 20th century. The streetcar lines in Cleveland, Ohio were operated by the Cleveland Railway, which was formed in 1910 with the merger of two companies. The Cleveland Railway converted a few streetcar lines in the 1930s, but the onset of World War II stopped any further conversions.
In 1942, the Cleveland Transit System took over the operation of all streetcar, bus and trackless trolley lines from the Cleveland Railway. Following the war, CTS undertook a program of replacing all existing streetcar lines with either trackless trolleys or buses.
The last CTS streetcar ran on January 24, 1954 with a free ride celebration on the Madison line from Public Square to West 65th and Bridge.