Omaha Cable Tramway Company
The Cable Tramway Company of Omaha, Nebraska started in 1884 and ended in 1895.{{cite web| url=http://www.cable-car-guy.com/html/ccwhere.html| title=Where and when did cable cars operate?| work=The Cable Car Homepage| access-date=2007-09-23}} It was the only cable car line ever built in Omaha, and had only four lines of tracks in operation.{{cite book|author1=Larsen, L.H. |author2=Cottrell, B.J. |name-list-style=amp | year=1997| title=The Gate City: A History of Omaha| publisher=University of Nebraska Press| pages=107}}
History
The Omaha Cable Tramway Company was originally formed in 1884, and began operating in 1887. Its power house was at 20th and Harney Streets in Downtown Omaha.{{cite web| year=1954| url=http://www.historicomaha.com/ofcchap6.htm| title=Omaha Began Early to Develop Its Role as Packing Center| work=Omaha's First Century| publisher=Omaha World-Herald| access-date=2007-09-23}}
Frederick Drexel, who came to Omaha in 1856, helped incorporate the Cable Tramway Company in 1887.{{cite web| url=http://www.omahahistory.org/Education_StreetNames4.htm| title=Street names| publisher=Douglas County Historical Society| access-date=2007-09-23| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021134439/http://omahahistory.org/Education_StreetNames4.htm| archive-date=2007-10-21}} Former Omaha mayor Ezra Millard was the first treasurer of the company when he died in 1886,{{cite book| year=1888| chapter-url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~neresour/OLLibrary/Omaha_book/omaha024.htm| chapter=The Late Ezra Millard| title=Omaha Illustrated: A history of the pioneer period and the Omaha of today| location=Omaha, Nebraska| publisher=D.C. Dunbar & Co| access-date=2007-06-24}} and Samuel R. Johnson was the president.{{cite web| url=http://www.mariposaresearch.net/santaclararesearch/SCBIOS/srjohnson.html| title=Samuel R. Johnson: Santa Clara Biography| work=Santa Clara Biographies| access-date=2007-09-23}}
The company had a bad image because of frequent disruptions in service caused by cable breakages. The cables were made of wire and hemp rope. In 1887 the company was sued by the Omaha Horse Railway for infringing on its territory after the Cable Tramway Company built tracks on the same street the railway operated on. The case was dismissed by a district court judge.{{cite book| author=Wyman, B.| year=1902| title=Cases on Restraint of Trade| url=https://archive.org/details/casesonrestrain00smitgoog| publisher=Harvard Law Review Publishing Company| pages=[https://archive.org/details/casesonrestrain00smitgoog/page/n157 23]}}
After electrically powered trams were introduced in Omaha, in April 1889 the Cable Tramway Company consolidated with the Omaha Horse Railway under the name Omaha Street Railway Company, which was then disbanded in 1896.{{cite web| url=http://www.omahahistory.org/Education_Timeline6.htm| title=Omaha Timeline| publisher=Douglas County Historical Society| access-date=2007-09-23|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927183914/http://www.omahahistory.org/Education_Timeline6.htm |archive-date = 2007-09-27}}
See also
References
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{{OmahaStreetcars}}
Category:Tram, urban railway and trolley companies
Category:Defunct companies based in Omaha, Nebraska
Category:Transport companies established in 1884
Category:1896 disestablishments in Nebraska
Category:Transport companies disestablished in 1896
Category:Streetcars in Omaha, Nebraska