From the 1850s to the 1890s, the main form of urban mass transportation in the united states was the

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Transportation in America Before 1876

In the 19th century, as the United States spread across the continent, transportation systems helped connect the growing nation. First rivers and roads and then canals and railroads moved travelers and agricultural and manufactured goods between farms, towns, and cities. Transportation links helped create a set of distinct local and regional economies. They also contributed to the sectional jealousies and rivalries that set the stage for the Civil War. Not until the end of the century would transportation networks form a national economy.

Roads

In the early 19th century, most roads were dreadful. They served local needs, allowing farmers to get produce to market. Americans who did travel long distances overland to settle the West rode on wagon trails, like the Oregon Trail, rather than well-defined roads. Still, a few major roads served as important transportation links. The National Road, initially funded by the federal government, stretched from Cumberland, Maryland, to Columbus, Ohio by 1833.

National Road Milepost, about 1840

The Fairview Inn near Baltimore, a stopping place on the National Road, 1827

Steamboats

The first commercially successful steamboat was tested on the Hudson River in 1807. Steamboats were soon introduced on most navigable rivers. They allowed commerce and travel both upstream and down, and encouraged trade by lowering costs and saving time. By 1830, steamboats dominated American river transportation.

Canals

The Erie Canal, built with state funding, was completed in 1825. Running from the Hudson River to the Great Lakes, it was a major economic artery through New York. Its economic success sparked a wave of canal building. By 1840, the United States had 3,326 miles of canals.

This ceramic plate commemorates the opening of the Erie Canal.

Ralph Stevenson of Staffordshire, England produced this whiteware plate around 1830.

DeWitt Clinton, depicted on this US Treasury Test Note was a New York politician and champion of the Erie Canal.

James Griswold used this surveyor's chain as one of his tools in constructing the Erie Canal.

This is one of the earliest wye levels in America, made by Benjamin Rittenhouse around 1785.

Railroads

Steam railroads began to appear in the United States around 1830, and dominated the continental transportation system by the 1850s. By 1860 there were roughly 31,000 miles of track in the country, concentrated in the Northeast but also in the South and Midwest.

Excursion train on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 1858

A Century of Progress?

In 1876, the United States celebrated its centennial. As a result of purchase, diplomacy, and war, the nation spread from coast to coast. Some people were enthusiastic, seeing it as an expression of the young country's 'manifest destiny,' its inevitable growth. Others, including many Native Americans and many people living in U.S. territories that used to be part of Mexico, held differing views. For those enthusiastic about expansion, the completion of a transcontinental railroad link in 1869 was the achievement of the age. The vast reaches of the country were bound together as never before. Americans could imagine themselves marching to the beat of technological progress, free from the constraints of time and distance.

Promontory Summit, Utah, 1869.Courtesy of the Oakland Museum of California , Andrew J. Russell Collection

This famous photo was taken moments after the completion of North America's first transcontinental rail line. On May 10, 1869, Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific Railroad Company and Thomas Clark Durant, Union Pacific Railroad Company vice president, drove the last spike at Promontory, Utah, linking the eastern railroad system to California. In six years, more than 20,000 workers' Chinese (absent from this picture), Irish, and others had laid down some 1,700 miles of track in the largest American civil-works project to that time.

Centennial American Republic and Railroad Map of the United States and of the Dominion of Canada, 1875. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division

This map shows the extent of the growing railroad network. It is decorated with icons of the American past and visions of progress, such as the Centennial Exhibition building in Philadelphia. In the 20 years that followed the centennial, American railroad companies added more than 100,000 miles of track to the system, further connecting the nation's economy, politics, and cultures.

What transportation was used in the 1890s?

Transportation in the 1900s During the 1890s, the most popular form of transportation were bicycles, mainly because they weren't too expensive. Henry Ford improved the bicycle during the 1890s. However, horse drawn streetcars, and railways were still popular types of transportation for many of the settlers.

What types of mass transit was used in the 1800s?

Regular steam ferry service began in New York City in the early 1810s and horse-drawn omnibuses plied city streets starting in the late 1820s. Expanding networks of horse railways emerged by the mid-19th century. The electric streetcar became the dominant mass transit vehicle a half century later.

What was the main transportation in the 1800s?

At the beginning of the century, U.S. citizens and immigrants to the country traveled primarily by horseback or on the rivers. After a while, crude roads were built and then canals. Before long the railroads crisscrossed the country moving people and goods with greater efficiency.

What was the most common form of transportation in the late 1800s?

In the late 1800s, the railroad became the primary mode of transportation for settlers moving to the western territories and states.