• July 1862
    D.C.’s streetcar system opens.
  • 1887
    The streetcar line becomes powered by a cable system.
  • 1888
    The first electric streetcar line is set up in D.C.
  • 1897
    A large fire sweeps the powerhouse that was located where the Wilson Building currently stands today.
  • 1921
    Dun dun dun. D.C.’s first successful bus system is introduced.
    This automotive system would eventually bring the demise of streetcar companies in the city.
  • 1933
    After years of there being multiple streetcar companies in the District, the final competing streetcar companies merge to form Capital Transit.
  • 1945
    Capital Transit becomes the third largest streetcar fleet in the nation.
  • 1945
    Streetcar workers go on a three-day strike.
    This later results in President Harry Truman seizing control of the company.
  • 1949
    A subterranean trolley tunnel is constructed under Dupont Circle.
    Today, this tunnel is known as Dupont Underground.
  • 1951
    Approximately 3,400 streetcar workers go on strike over wages and working conditions.
    This strike caused what the Associated Press described as "the biggest traffic jam in its history."
  • Summer 1955
    A seven-week strike is held after streetcar workers weren’t given a requested pay raise.
    This action was sparked by the District's Public Utilities Commission rejecting the streetcar company’s request for fare increases.
  • 1955
    New York financier O. Roy Chalk purchases Capital Transit for $13.5 million.
    When he made this purchase, he also agreed to phase out the streetcars by 1963.. He later renames the streetcar system D.C. Transit.
  • January 1962
    After low profits and worsening labor relations, the streetcar service officially ends.
  • 1964
    The station entrances are paved over.
  • 1995
    The former subterranean streetcar station underneath Dupont Circle reopened as a food court, called Dupont Down Under.
    It closed in a matter of months.
  • March 1997
    The District Department of Public Works creates the Transportation Vision, Strategy, and Action Plan, which sets a 20-year vision to rebuild a streetcar system in D.C.
  • 1999
    WMATA conducts the Transit Service Expansion Plan, which identifies three possible streetcar lines in D.C.’s Downtown.
  • Fall 2000
    A new two-phase study identifies the four most promising corridors for a streetcar system.
  • September 2002
    WMATA conducts the District of Columbia Transit Development Study, which proposes several possible routes across the city.
  • 2003
    Former D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams proposes streetcars in a draft strategic development plan, called the DC’s Transit Future program.
    This plan identified four priority corridors: Anacostia Corridor/Minnesota Avenue to National Harbor, Silver Spring to Anacostia Corridor, Woodley Park to Stadium-Armory, and Georgetown to Stadium-Armory.
  • April 2010
    After multiple updates to previous reports, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) unveils an expanded vision for the proposed streetcar.
  • June 2012
    The DDOT scales back its vision from a 37-mile plan to a 22-mile plan.
  • December 2013
    The DDOT tests streetcars in D.C. for the first time since streetcar service ended.
  • 2014
    Former Mayor Marion Barry describes the streetcar line in the famous words: "ill-planned, ill-thought-out, ill-engineered, ill-everything.”
  • November 2014
    By this point, multiple incomplete or incorrect submissions for a safety certification process have been sent to the District's Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department.
  • February 2015
    DDOT requests to conduct top-to-bottom review of streetcar plan.
  • 2016
    The streetcar finally reopens to the public in D.C. at the cost of $200 million.
    The route is located between H Street NE and Benning Road NE, spanning a total of 2.2 miles.