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Commuter Services in the Boston Area, 1835–1860*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

Charles J. Kennedy
Charles J. Kennedy
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics, University of Nebraska
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Abstract

In the late 1840's, under the leadership of the Boston and Maine management, the seven steam railroads in Boston promoted the development of suburbs by lowering fares and providing frequent commuter trains. By 1855 the volume of commuter traffic was of sufficient magnitude and the fares so low as to depress the earning power of the seven roads. When the managements attempted to offset increases in wages and material costs with higher commuter fares, the commuters on one line dramatically and successfully staged a revolt. The policy of deliberately developing commuter service as a by-product not only stimulated the urban development of Greater Boston but also influenced the philosophy of railroad management itself.

Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , Summer 1962 , pp. 153 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1962

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References

1 The particular approach has been to appraise the management of each road entering Boston and to compare these roads with 49 other New England railroads at 5-year intervals.

The complete ratings of the management appraisals are not presented here, since the explanation requires considerable detail and is all-inclusive, whereas this paper is limited to only one problem or activity of the Boston roads. In the appendix to this paper, however, the comparative ranks of the 7 Boston roads are listed at 10-year intervals. The management appraisal of 45 roads, including the Boston & Maine, the Boston & Lowell, the Eastern, and the Fitchburg, as well as certain paragraphs of this paper, will be included in a forthcoming volume on the history of the Boston & Maine and its constituents.

2 Barber, John Warner, Historical Collections… of Every Town in Massachusetts (Worcester, 1844 [c. 1839])Google Scholar; Winsor, Justin (ed.), The Memorial History of Boston… (Boston, 1883), Vol. IV, pp. 25 ff.Google Scholar

3 To improve readability, the ampersand is used in the names of railroads.

4 A very readable book on the growth of urban civilization is Mumford, Lewis, The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformation, and Its Prospects (New York, c. 1961), chap. 16Google Scholar.

For an analysis of Paris, see Aries, Philippe, “Paris Divided,” Landscape, Vol. XI (1961), pp. 10–16Google Scholar. The expansion of Berlin as a contrast to Boston is described in History of the West End Street Railway… (Boston, c 1891), pp. 41–44.

5 Freed, Clyde H., The Story of Railroad Passenger Fares (n.p., c. 1942), p. 226Google Scholar; Report of the Committee… of the Stockholders of the Eastern Rail-Road Company… to Report… May 21, 1840 (Boston, 1840), p. 12; “Railways of Massachusetts — IV,” in Boston Evening Transcript, April 9, 1855; Kennedy, Charles J., “The Early Business History of Four Massachusetts Railroads — IV,” Bulletin of the Business Historical Society, Vol. XXV (Dec, 1951), p. 211.Google Scholar

6 Computed from Barber, Historical Collections…, who used a Massachusetts industrial census of 1837.

7 Ibid., p. 483.

8 Kennedy, Charles J., “Railroads in Essex County a Century Ago,” Essex Institute Historical Collections, Vol. XCV (1959), p. 143Google Scholar; Boston & Lowell Railroad, Directors' Minutes, June 2, 1835, Nov. 27, 1837; Boston Advertiser ir Patriot, Nov. 7, 1835; Eastern Rail-road, Directors' Minutes, Sept. 5, 1838; Connecticut River Rail-road, Annual Report, 1848, p. 6; Merrill to R. Steward, July 29, 1853, and George Stark to G. W. Bentley, May 3, 1859, in Nashua & Lowell Railroad Collections (Baker Library, Harvard University), Vol. CXI, folio 347, and Vol. CXIII, folio 80, respectively; Boston & Worcester Railroad, Directors' Minutes, March 10, 1835.

9 Martin, Joseph G., A Century of Finance… (Boston, 1898), p. 26Google Scholar; Boston & Worcester Railroad, Directors' Minutes, June 20, 1837, May 1, 1838, April 4, May 21, 1839; Eastern Rail-road, Directors' Minutes, Sept. 5, 1838, Feb. 14, April 5, March 30, 1839, June 11, 1841; Boston & Providence Railroad, Directors' Minutes, Dec. 14, 1836, Aug. 1, 1839.

10 Report of Committee of Citizens of Dedham Relative to the Advance in Fares upon the Boston a-Providence Railroad…, March 12, 1856 (Dedham, 1856), pp. 6–11; Boston & Providence Railroad, Directors' Minutes, Aug. 1, 1839; “Railways of Massachusetts — III,” Boston Evening Transcript, April 4, 1855; American Railway Times, May 23, 1850.

11 Eastern Rail-road, Directors' Minutes, June 15, 1840, June 11, 1841, July 16, 1842; Report of the Committee… of the Stockholders of the Eastern… May 21, 1840, pp. 12 f.; Eastern Rail-road, Stockholders' Minutes, May 13, 1839.

12 Boston & Worcester Railroad, Directors' Minutes, April 24, June 12, 1843; Martin, Century of Finance, p. 26; Newton Trains (a small card, dated July 15, 1844, and deposited in the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society ticket file).

13 Cf. “Railways of Massachusetts — III,” Boston Evening Transcript, April 4, 1855. Simonds, Thomas C., History of South Boston (Boston, 1857), p. 225Google Scholar, states that the White Line of 20 coaches with trips every 5 minutes within Boston now charge 6 cents for a single passage, “the old ticket system having been disregarded.”

14 Ibid., Grant, E. B., Boston Railways: Their Condition and Prospects (Boston, 1856), p. 96Google Scholar. The Report of the Investigating Committee of the Boston and Maine Railroad to the Stockholders, September 29, 1855 (Boston, 1855), p. 19, maintained that the B&M in 1855 was still charging “materially lower” than its neighbors for season tickets.

15 Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, Vol. XIX (1848), p. 566; Eastern Rail-road, Directors' Minutes, June 17, 1841, Nov. 12, 1846, Apr. 17, 1847; Boston Journal, March 3, 1855 (clipping in B&M Scrapbook, VII); Fitchburg Railroad, Directors' Minutes, March 24, 1846; American Railway Times, Dec. 1, 1849; Pathfinder Guide for the New England States, no. 7 (Dec, 1849).

16 Annual income statements and traffic data for each of the seven Boston roads compiled from returns to the Massachusetts legislature and to the stockholders. Also, see “Railways in Massachusetts — II,” Boston Evening Transcript, March 31, 1855.

17 Fitchburg Railroad, Directors' Minutes, July 17, 1844, May 19, 1847; Boston & Lowell Railroad, Directors' Minutes, Oct. 19, 1844, May 29, 1854; Boston & Maine Railroad, Directors' Minutes, Aug. 9, 1845, Feb. 27, 1849, July 31, 1858, May 16, 1860; Eastern Rail-road, Directors' Minutes, Jan. 20, 1859, May 15, 1862, Feb. 19, 1863; Boston & Providence Railroad, Directors' Minutes, May 11, 1841; Newton Trains.

18 Fitchburg Railroad, Directors' Minutes, March 24, 1846; Boston & Maine, Directors' Minutes, July 31, 1858.

19 American Railroad Journal, Vol. XXI (July 22, 1848), p. 446; Grant, Boston Railways…. pp. 93–98.

20 Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, Vol. XXV (Dec., 1851), p. 759, quoting Boston Evening Gazette.

21 Eastern Bail-road, Annual Report, 1852, p. 9; Report of Investigating Committee of the Boston and Maine Railroad…, p. 44; Fitchburg Railroad, Annual Report, 1856, p. 18.

22 Computations made from Pathfinder Guide…. no. 7 (Dec.” 1849); Appleton's New and Complete Guide Book for Travellers, Dec, 1860; and American Railway Times, Dec, 1, 1849, July 14, 1860. In Philadelphia, a large number of omnibus companies developed commuter traffic to adjacent residential sections, frequently offering annual season tickets that permitted an unlimited number of rides at an average of 4 cents a day. (Speirs, Frederic W., The Street Railway System of Philadelphia, Its History and Present Conditions [Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Sciences, 15th Series, III-IV-V, 1897], p. 10.Google Scholar) Were the railroads in New York and Philadelphia more like the Old Colony than the Boston & Maine in their commutation policies thereby permitting the business to go into the hands of horse-drawn omnibus companies? Probably this question could be answered after considerable research.

23 Speirs, Street Railway System of Philadelphia, p. 10.

24 This statement made by various writers in newspapers and pamphlets has been checked against the reports made by the seven Boston roads, and while the reports are inadequate for this purpose, the statement appears tenable.

25 E.g., Fitchburg Railroad, Annual Report, 1852, p. 14; American Railway Times, May 15, 1851, May 31, 1855, Feb. 28, May 29, 1856, July 17, 1858; “Railways in Massachusetts — I and IV,” Boston Evening Transcript, March 27 and April 9, 1855, respectively; [Appleton, William and Swift, W. H.], Massachusetts Railroads, 1842 to 1855 (Boston, 1856), p. 13.Google Scholar

26 Report of interviews with officers of the seven Boston railroads, in Goward's Real Estate Advertiser, Feb. 24, 1855 (clipping in Boston & Maine Scrapbook, Vol. VII). The Fitchburg directors stated in their Annual Report of 1856, p. 18, that commuter traffic was “far from profitable,” and gave generalized evidence implying the commuter revenue did not pay the added costs of providing the services.

27 E.g., ibid.; Joel W. White in American Railway Times, Feb. 28, 1856; D. M. Balfour in ibid., May 31, 1855. Occasionally, it was contended that season tickets were a source of profit on every road in Boston, but I have found no convincing evidence. E.g., see unsigned letter in American Railway Times, Jan. 31, 1856.

28 The annual net income of each of the Boston roads was computed by recasting the income statements according to the present I.C.C. standards, as far as possible. Martin, Century of Finance, gives the annual high and low market quotation of each stock and the rate of dividends paid.

29 Unidentified newspaper clipping in Boston & Maine Scrapbook, Vol. VII, p. 2.

30 “Railways of Massachusetts — I-XII,” Boston Evening Transcript, March 27, 31, Apr. 4, 9, 12, 16, 17, 23, 27, May 7, 10, 14, 1855; “Railroad Matters,” Boston Traveller, Feb. 28, 1855 (clipping in B&M Scrapbook, Vol. VII).

31 Goward's Real Estate Advertiser, Feb. 24, 1855 (clipping in B&M Scrapbook, Vol. VII).

32 Boston Journal, March 3, 1855 (clipping in B&M Scrapbook, Vol. VII).

33 Ibid.; Boston Traveller, March 3, March 8, 1855; Olive Branch, March 10, March 31, 1855; Fitchburg Reveille, March 7, 1855; and other clippings in B&M Scrapbook, Vol. VII.

34 Boston Traveller, March 8, 1855 (clipping in B&M Scrapbook, Vol. VII).

35 [Evening Traveller?] Feb. 19, 1856, and Boston Traveller, April 8, 1856 (clippings in B&M Scrapbook, Vol. VII).

36 American Railway Times, Dec. 1, 1849, July 19, 1855, July 14, 1860; Statement by F. B. Rowell, Jan. 28, 1926, in Harvard Branch Railroad historical file, Contract Bureau of B&M Railroad headquarters; Robert Lovett, “The Harvard Branch Railroad, 1849–1855,” Cambridge Historical Publications, Proceedings, 1959–1960.

37 Kennedy, “Railroads in Essex County…,” pp. 147 f.; Annual Returns of the Railroad Corporations in the State of Massachusetts for 1856… [Mass., Sen. Doc. no. 2, Jan., 1857] (Boston, 1856), pp. 50–55, 74–77, 155–160, 166–170; American Railway Times, June 19, 1856; History of the West End Street Railway… (Boston, c. 1891), pp. 11–17.

38 American Railway Times, Feb. 14, 1855, March 20, June 5, 12, 19, 1856, April 2, June 4, 1857, July 14, 1860; Fitchburg Railroad, Annual Report, 1858, pp. 12–16.

39 Returns from horse railroads, in Returns of the Railroad Corporations in Massachusetts, 1859… [Mass., Pub. Doc. no. 39] (Boston, 1860); Lynn News, Aug. 31, Sept. 7, 1858, Feb. 15, March 1, 15, 22, June 1, 15, 1859, March 21, 1860; Salem Gazette, April 22, 1859.

40 Photo no. 28551 in card file of Bureau of Railway Economics (Association of American Railroads); American Railway Times, Oct. 27, 1860, Feb. 8, 1862; Kennedy, Charles J., “The Eastern Rail-road Company, 1855–1884,” Business History Review, Vol. XXXI (Summer, 1957), p. 181.Google Scholar

41 American Railway Times, Oct. 27, 1860.

42 “Railways of Massachusetts — III,” Boston Evening Transcript, April 4, 1855, lists the following villages as railroad suburbs: Dedham, Milton, Quincy, Dorchester, Brighton, Newton, Medford, Woburn, Winchester, Somerville, West Cambridge, Melrose, and Maiden. A number of other villages probably should be added, although the mere growth in population in a village within 10 miles of Boston does not necessarily mean a large number of the new inhabitants were commuters. There were many small industrial establishments in each of the 21 contiguous “towns” within 10 miles of Boston.

43 Computed from Barber, Historical Collections…; and U. S. Census, 1840 and 1860.

44 American Railway Times, June 27, 1850, July 31, 1858; Kennedy, Charles J., “The Eastern Rail-road Company to 1855, Business History Review, Vol. XXXI (Spring, 1957), p. 94.Google Scholar

45 Salem Gazette, April 15, 1859.

46 Mass., Acts of 1872, chap. 348; Kennedy, Charles J., “The Influence of Government Regulation on the Management Decisions of Forty-Five New England Railroads, 1830–1900,” The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin no. 105 (Oct., 1961), p. 16.Google Scholar The Eastern, the Old Colony, the Fitchburg, and the Boston & Maine provided either a special car or a special train in compliance with the state requirement.

47 Eastern Rail-road, Annual Report, 1862, p. 6; American Railway Times, Oct. 27, 1860, Feb. 8, 1862.

48 Mass., Second Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners (Boston, 1871), p. 18.