Electricity for Streetcars

Electric power from Brown’s Island began running streetcars in 1894, after Richmond Railway & Electric built a coal-fired generating plant there. In 1888, the Richmond Union Passenger Railway became the first streetcar line in the world to be successfully powered by electricity, using a system designed by Frank Julian Sprague that was later installed in cities around the globe. Its main generating plant in 1888 stood two blocks north, on 7th Street between Canal and Cary Streets. In 1890, Richmond Union Passenger Railway merged with another streetcar company and three electric companies to form Richmond Railway & Electric. In 1893, the new company built a generating plant with two engines on Johnson’s Island, and in 1894 it added a ten-engine plant on Brown’s Island. The plants on Brown’s and Johnson’s islands were replaced by the 12th Street Hyrdo plant in 1901.

Richmond, Virginia · United States