Abstract
The rapid spread of electric streetcar technology in the 1890s brought not only passengers to the suburbs but streetcar politics too. Beyond Montreal's city limits in the Village of Mile End, the politics of streetcar services was particularly virulent and indeed often comical. The contest between competing streetcar firms, and divisions within the council, culminated in early March 1893 when the Mayor of Mile End tore up a half-mile of the Montreal Street Railway Company's track. This paper is an attempt to make sense of the 'Mile End Muddle,' as the newspapers dubbed the strange sequence of events, and to explain the relative weakness of the council and residents in the contest for streetcar service. It aims to show that the council and residents of Mile End, though vociferous and often violent, were unable to secure any significant degree of control of the actions of the MSRC and the Park and Island Railway Company.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Urban History Review/Revue d'Histoire Urbain |
| Pages | 25-39 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Edition | 2 |
| State | Published - 1996 |
| Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences
- General Environmental Science