This line began life as a steam dummy motor line in 1889, run by the Mount Tabor Street Railway Company. Confusingly, this line was often referred to as the “Mount Tabor line” in its early years – modern researchers have to pay attention to both the owner of the line and the gauge to tell the two lines apart. The line was electrified in stages starting in 1892.

By 1903, the familiar “Hawthorne Avenue” designation was in common usage, although it was occasionally referred to as the “Reservoir line” after it got extended to the old reservoir at the corner of SE 60th Avenue and Division on January 24, 1904.

Further extensions on the “South Mount Tabor line” pushed the line out to its ultimate terminus at SE Woodward and 74th in July 1913, although further extensions out to and past the city limits at SE 82nd Avenue were mooted for a while.

Streetcar service on the Hawthorne line ended on September 26, 1936 with replacement trolley bus service starting the next day.

Untitled