HouTran
| Parent |
Stone & Webster (1901–1951) National City Lines (1966–1974) City of Houston (1974–1979) METRO (1979) |
|---|---|
| Founded | August 6, 1870 |
| Commenced operation | 1874 |
| Defunct | 1979 |
| Headquarters | Houston, Texas |
| Service type |
Horsecar (1874–1892) Streetcar (1891–1940) Bus (1924–1979) |
| Routes | 1 (1874) 24 (1927) |
HouTran was a public transportation company that served the Houston area. While its last iteration was publicly owned by the City of Houston, it was privately owned throughout the vast majority of its existence. Throughout several name changes and ownership acquisitions, the company's modes of operation ranged from mule-drawn streetcars to electrified streetcars, and finally to busses. In 1979, it was succeeded by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, a state-authorized local transit authority, when it was purchased by that agency as the basis for its then new transit system.
The company's origins can be traced back to 1870, when the company was chartered as the Houston City Street Railway Company with J.H. Scanlan as President. However, it was not until June 24, 1871 that the Houston City Council passed an ordinance that granted the company right-of-way. Despite the grant, it was not until 1874 that it began operations as a mule-driven streetcar company. The company's original line ran from Union Station that was operated by International–Great Northern Railroad to the Houston and Texas Central Station. In 1877, the company's assets included three miles of track, fourteen streetcars, and about one-hundred mules.
By 1890, the company owned fifty miles of track, fifty streetcars, and three-hundred horses. That year, the company and its sole competitor Bayou City Street Railway Company that had begun operation the year prior were acquired by Oscar Martin Carter, effectively merging the companies. Martin was president of the Omaha and South Texas Land Company, which had purchased the land to develop the Houston Heights. The first suburb of Houston was too far to walk, and thus control of the public transportation system in Houston was critical to making the community work. Thus, both Carter, and Omaha and South Texas Land Company's director Daniel Denton Cooley are credited with having founded the Heights. In 1891, the company began using electric streetcars based on technology invented by the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, and fully converted from mule-driven cars by the following year.
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