First US electric street car

On 27th July 1884 the first electric street railroad for public use went into operation on the streets of East Cleveland, Ohio. Its lone car was propelled by a small electric, arc-light dynamo of Charles Brush's design, acting as a motor. The car was modified from a horsedrawn streetcar by the Bentley Knight Company. The length of the line was 1.5 miles and it was an immediate success. Regardless of all the favourable publicity, the line ran fitfully until the fall of 1885. It was abandoned because the streets were being torn up for sewers, but this was enough time to forecast the close of the horse era.