Residents of Brooklyn were clamoring for streetcar service as early as 1900 and a franchise was granted in December of that year, but it took until 1902 for the line to be inaugurated.

While all of the other southeastern streetcar lines were eventually standardized as standard gauge to allow them to operate out of the Sellwood car barn and cross the Hawthorne Bridge, the Brooklyn line remained narrow gauge to afford access to the Center Street shops for all of the other streetcar lines via a spur that ran south from Powell Boulevard on SE 16th Avenue to SE Rhone Street.

By 1927, the Portland Electric Power Company wanted to shut the Brooklyn line down, but met with stiff opposition at multiple council meetings. Finally, a compromise was reached in August: the “Brooklyn” name would be retired, but the Bridge Transfer line would be extended to run over the entire length of the old Brooklyn route.

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