Rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit known as heavy rail, subway, tube, U-Bahn or underground, is a type of high-capacity public transport found in urban areas. Unlike buses or trams, rapid transit systems are electric railways that operate on an exclusive right-of-way, which cannot be accessed by pedestrians or other vehicles of any sort, and, grade separated in tunnels or on elevated railways. Modern services on rapid transit systems are provided on designated lines between stations using electric multiple units on rail tracks, although some systems use guided rubber tires, magnetic levitation, or monorail; the stations have high platforms, without steps inside the trains, requiring custom-made trains in order to minimize gaps between train and platform. They are integrated with other public transport and operated by the same public transport authorities. However, some rapid transit systems have at-grade intersections between a rapid transit line and a road or between two rapid transit lines.
It is unchallenged in its ability to transport large numbers of people over short distances with little to no use of land. The world's first rapid transit system was the underground Metropolitan Railway which opened as a conventional railway in 1863, now forms part of the London Underground. In 1868, New York opened the elevated West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway a cable-hauled line using static steam engines. China has the largest number of rapid transit systems in the world at 31, with over 4,500 km of lines and is responsible for most of the world's rapid transit expansion in the past decade; the world's longest single-operator rapid transit system by route length is the Shanghai Metro. The world's largest single rapid transit service provider by number of stations is the New York City Subway; the busiest rapid transit systems in the world by annual ridership are the Tokyo subway system, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, the Moscow Metro, the Beijing Subway, the Shanghai Metro, the Guangzhou Metro, the New York City Subway, the Mexico City Metro, the Paris Métro, the Hong Kong MTR.
Metro is the most common term for underground rapid transit systems used by non-native English speakers. Rapid transit systems may be named after the medium by which passengers travel in busy central business districts. One of these terms may apply to an entire system if a large part of the network runs at ground level. In most of Britain, a subway is a pedestrian underpass. In Scotland, the Glasgow Subway underground rapid transit system is known as the Subway. In most of North America, underground mass transit systems are known as subways; the term metro is a shortened reference to a metropolitan area. Chicago's commuter rail system that serves the entire metropolitan area is called Metra, while its rapid transit system that serves the city is called the "L". Rapid transit systems such as the Washington Metro, Los Angeles Metro Rail, the Miami Metrorail, the Montreal Metro are called the Metro; the opening of London's steam-hauled Metropolitan Railway in 1863 marked the beginning of rapid transit.
Initial experiences with steam engines, despite ventilation, were unpleasant. Experiments with pneumatic railways failed in their extended adoption by cities. Electric traction was more efficient and cleaner than steam and the natural choice for trains running in tunnels and proved superior for elevated services. In 1890 the City & South London Railway was the first electric-traction rapid transit railway, fully underground. Prior to opening the line was to be called the "City and South London Subway", thus introducing the term Subway into railway terminology. Both railways, alongside others, were merged into London Underground; the 1893 Liverpool Overhead Railway was designed to use electric traction from the outset. The technology spread to other cities in Europe, the United States and Canada, with some railways being converted from steam and others being designed to be electric from the outset. Budapest, Chicago and New York all converted or purpose-designed and built electric rail services.
Advancements in technology have allowed new automated services. Hybrid solutions have evolved, such as tram-train and premetro, which incorporate some of the features of rapid transit systems. In response to cost, engineering considerations and topological challenges some cities have opted to construct tram systems those in Australia, where density in cities was low and suburbs tended to spread out. Since the 1970s, the viability of underground train systems in Australian cities Sydney and Melbourne, has been reconsidered and proposed as a solution to over-capacity. Since the 1960s many new systems were introduced in Europe and Latin America. In the 21st century, most new expansions and systems are located in Asia, with China becoming the world's leader in metro expansion operating some of the largest systems and possessing 60 cities operating, constructing or planning a rapid transit system. Rapid transit is used in cities and metropolitan areas to transport large numbers of people short distances at high frequency.
The extent of the rapid transit system varies between cities, with se
Tandy Corporation
Tandy Corporation was an American family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, United States. Tandy Leather was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store and acquired a number of craft retail companies, including RadioShack in 1963. In 2000, the Tandy Corporation name was dropped and the entity became the RadioShack Corporation. Tandy began in 1919 when two friends, Norton Hinckley and Dave L. Tandy, decided to start the Hinckley-Tandy Leather Company and concentrated their efforts on selling sole leather and other supplies to shoe repair dealers in Texas. Hinckley and Tandy opened their first branch store in 1927 in Beaumont, Texas and in 1932, Dave Tandy moved the store from Beaumont to Houston, Texas. Tandy's business survived the economic storms of the Depression, gathered strength and developed a firm presence in the shoe findings business. Dave Tandy had a son, Charles Tandy, drafted into the business during his early twenties. Charles obtained a B. A degree at Texas Christian University began attending the Harvard Business School to further expand his education.
As World War II escalated Charles was called to serve his country in the military and relocated to Hawaii. He wrote to his father from overseas suggesting that leathercraft might offer new possibilities for growing the shoe finding business since the same supplies were used in Navy and Army hospitals and recreation centers. Leathercraft gave the men something useful to do and their handiwork, in addition to being therapeutic, had genuine value. Charles Tandy returned home from the service as a Lieutenant Commander in 1948 and negotiated to operate the fledgling leathercraft division himself, he had encouraged and followed the development of that venture through correspondence with his father. Within a short time Charles succeeded in opening the first of two retail stores in 1950 that specialized in leathercraft. Mr. Hinckley did not share the enthusiasm of Dave and Charles Tandy for the new leathercraft division; as a result, the two original founders came to an agreement in 1950 that Hinckley would continue to pursue the shoe findings business and the Tandy partners would specialize in promoting leathercrafts.
The first Tandy Catalog, only 8 pages long, was mailed to readers of Popular Science magazine who had responded to two-inch test ads that were placed by Tandy. From 1950 forward Tandy operated; this successful formula helped the company expand into a chain of some 150 leathercraft stores. A growing'do-it-yourself movement' prompted by a shortage of consumer goods and high labor costs continued to gather momentum; the fifteen leathercraft stores opened during this division's first two years of operation became quite successful. Tandy began expanding by gaining new product lines. Sixteen additional retail stores were opened in 1953, by 1955 Tandy Leather was a thriving company with leased sales sites in 75 cities across the United States. Tandy Leather became an attractive commodity and was purchased in 1955 by the American Hide and Leather Company of Boston. Charles continued to maintain control of managing the Tandy Leather division while owned by GAI. During 1956, General American Industries acquired three other companies unrelated to the leather industry and a struggle for control of the parent company began.
Charles saw the need to emancipate from the direction initiated by GAI. He used all his resources, raised additional money, exercised his right to purchase the 500,000 shares of stock that were included in the original settlement; when the votes were counted on the day of that pivotal stockholders meeting, the Tandy group took management control of General American Industries. In 1961 the company name was changed to Tandy Corporation and the corporate headquarters were moved to Fort Worth, Texas where Charles Tandy became the President and Chairman of the Board. Tandy Leather was operating 125 stores in 105 cities of the United States and Canada and expansion was the name of the game. Tandy acquired the assets of Merribee Art Embroidery Co. manufacturer and retailer of needlecraft items, as well as 5 other companies, including Cleveland Crafts Inc. and brought on the owner, Werner Magnus, to help run the newly acquired Merribee division. The first Tandy Mart had twenty-eight different shops all devoted to craft and hobby merchandise and included American Handicraft, Tandy Leather, Electronics Crafts and Merribee in an area of about 40,000 square feet.
Charles Tandy became intrigued with the potential for rapid growth that he saw in the electronics retail industry during 1962. He found RadioShack in Boston, a mail order company that had started in the twenties selling to ham operators and electronics buffs. By April 1963, the Tandy Corporation acquired management control of RadioShack Corporation and within two years, RadioShack's $4 million loss was turned into a profit under the leadership of Charles Tandy. Sales were going well for Tandy during this time; the "beads & fringe" days were in full swing with the hippy era and the "Nature-Tand" look was a big seller for belts, purses and wristbands. Under the leadership of Lloyd Redd and Al Patten, the company prospered; the number of Tandy store-fronts skyrocketed over the next five to six years by growing from 132 sites in 1969 to 269 sites in 1975. Ground broke in downtown Fort Worth for the construction of the Tandy Towers in 1975; the 18-story office building was initiated as Phase I of a m
PCC streetcar
The PCC is a streetcar design, first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful in its native country, after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the world where PCC based cars were made; the PCC car has proved to be a long-lasting icon of streetcar design, many are still in service around the world. The "PCC" acronym originated from the design committee formed in 1929 as the "Presidents' Conference Committee", renamed the "Electric Railway Presidents' Conference Committee" in 1931; the group's membership consisted of representatives of several larger operators of U. S. urban electric street railways plus potential manufacturers. Three interurban lines and at least one "heavy rail", or rapid transit, operator — Chicago Rapid Transit Company — were represented as well. Included on the membership roll were manufacturers of surface cars and interested component suppliers. ERPCC's goal was to design a streamlined, comfortable and fast accelerating and braking streetcar that would be operated by a seated operator using floor mounted pedal controls to better meet the needs of the street railways and to better appeal to riders.
ERPCC prepared a detailed research plan, conducted extensive research on streetcar design and tested components, made necessary modifications and revisions based upon the findings, produced a set of specifications for a standardized and fixed design to be built with standard parts as opposed to a custom designed carbody with any variety of different parts added depending on the whims and requirements of the individual customer. An excellent product emerged, the PCC car, as was proved in years by numerous national and international users. Many design patents resulted from the work of ERPCC; these were transferred to a new business entity called the Transit Research Corporation when ERPCC expired in 1936. Although this company continued the work of research on improvements to the basic design of the car and would issue sets of specifications three times in the ensuing years, because TRC defined a PCC car as any vehicle which used patents on which it collected royalties, it was formed for the primary purpose of controlling those patents and promoting the standardization envisioned by the ERPCC.
The company was funded by its collection of patent royalties from the railways which bought PCC cars. The company was controlled by a voting trust representing the properties which had invested in the work of ERPCC. One participant in Committee meetings, Philadelphia trolley manufacturer J. G. Brill and Company brought a competitive design — the Brilliner — to market in 1938. With Raymond Loewy designed elements and similar to the PCC look, the Brilliner attracted no large orders, being built only for Atlantic City Transit and the Red Arrow Lines in suburban Philadelphia. Fewer than 50 were sold. A significant contribution to the PCC design was noise reduction with extensive use of rubber in springs and other components to prevent rattle and thus noise and to provide a level of comfort not known before. Wheel tires were mounted between rubber sandwiches and were thus electrically isolated so that shunts were used to complete ground. Resilient wheels were used on most PCC cars with heftier cousins known as "Super-Resilient".
Gears were another source of considerable noise, solved by employing hypoid gears which are mounted at a right angle to the axle, where three of the six teeth engaged the main gear, reducing play and noise. All movable truck parts employed rubber for noise reduction as well. "Satisfactory Cushion Wheel of Vital Importance. After a specification document suitable for purchasing cars was generated by TRC, orders were placed by eight companies in 1935 and 1936. First was Brooklyn & Queens Transit Corporation for 100 cars Baltimore Transit Co. for 27 cars, Chicago Surface Lines for 83 cars, Pittsburgh Railways Co. for 101 cars, San Diego Electric Railway for 25 cars, Los Angeles Railway for 60 cars, Boston Elevated Railway for 1 car. In late 1935 or early in 1936 Westinghouse Electric Corporation pressed for one car to be equipped with their electrical equipment for testing in Pittsburgh, since the Brooklyn order would have all cars equipped by General Electric, Clark Equipment Company pressed for one car to be made by them of aluminum for delivery to B&QT.
Agreements among the parties were reached whereby St. Louis Car Company would build 101 identical cars and Clark would build one of its own body design. Brooklyn received its first car #1001 on May 28, 1936, PRCo took delivery of car #100 on July 26, 1936, Baltimore received its first car on September 2, 1936. In the late 1936 discussions of operating experience it was noted that the Brooklyn car had run 3000 miles by the time the Pittsburgh car had run 1000 miles; the first car to be placed in a scheduled public service was PRCO #100 in August and B&QT launched its first scheduled service with a group of cars on October 1, 1936, followed by CSL on November 13, 1936. Production continued in North America by St. Louis Car Co. and Pullman-Standard until 1952, with 4978 units being built. Under license to use the designs patented by TRC, thousands more PCC and PCC type cars were produced in Europe through the last half of the 20th century; the cars were well-built and many hundreds are still in operation.
The majority of large North American streetcar systems surviving after
Tram
A tram is a rail vehicle which runs on tramway tracks along public urban streets. The lines or networks operated by tramcars are called tramways; the term electric street railways was used in the United States. In the United States, the term tram has sometimes been used for rubber-tyred trackless trains, which are unrelated to other kinds of trams. Tram vehicles are lighter and shorter than main line and rapid transit trains. Today, most trams use electrical power fed by a pantograph sliding on an overhead line. In some cases by a contact shoe on a third rail is used. If necessary, they may have dual power systems—electricity in city streets, diesel in more rural environments. Trams carry freight. Trams are now included in the wider term "light rail", which includes grade-separated systems; some trams, known as tram-trains, may have segments that run on mainline railway tracks, similar to interurban systems. The differences between these modes of rail transport are indistinct, a given system may combine multiple features.
One of the advantages over earlier forms of transit was the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on steel rails, allowing the trams to haul a greater load for a given effort. Problems included the fact that any given animal could only work so many hours on a given day, had to be housed, groomed and cared for day in and day out, produced prodigious amounts of manure, which the streetcar company was charged with disposing of. Electric trams replaced animal power in the late 19th and early 20th century. Improvements in other forms of road transport such as buses led to decline of trams in mid 20th century. Trams have seen resurgence in recent years; the English terms tram and tramway are derived from the Scots word tram, referring to a type of truck used in coal mines and the tracks on which they ran. The word tram derived from Middle Flemish trame; the identical word la trame with the meaning "crossbeam" is used in the French language. Etymologists believe that the word tram refers to the wooden beams the railway tracks were made of before the railroad pioneers switched to the much more wear-resistant tracks made of iron and steel.
The word Tram-car is attested from 1873. Although the terms tram and tramway have been adopted by many languages, they are not used universally in English; the term streetcar is first recorded in 1840, referred to horsecars. When electrification came, Americans began to speak of trolleycars or trolleys. A held belief holds the word to derive from the troller, a four-wheeled device, dragged along dual overhead wires by a cable that connected the troller to the top of the car and collected electrical power from the overhead wires. "Trolley" and variants refer to the verb troll, meaning "roll" and derived from Old French, cognate uses of the word were well established for handcarts and horse drayage, as well as for nautical uses. The alternative North American term'trolley' may speaking be considered incorrect, as the term can be applied to cable cars, or conduit cars that instead draw power from an underground supply. Conventional diesel tourist buses decorated to look like streetcars are sometimes called trolleys in the US.
Furthering confusion, the term tram has instead been applied to open-sided, low-speed segmented vehicles on rubber tires used to ferry tourists short distances, for example on the Universal Studios backlot tour and, in many countries, as tourist transport to major destinations. The term may apply to an aerial ropeway, e.g. the Roosevelt Island Tramway. Although the use of the term trolley for tram was not adopted in Europe, the term was associated with the trolleybus, a rubber-tyred vehicle running on hard pavement, which draws its power from pairs of overhead wires; these electric buses, which use twin trolley poles, are called trackless trolleys, or sometimes trolleys. The New South Wales, government has decided to use the term "light rail" for their trams; the history of trams, streetcars or trolley systems, began in early nineteenth century. It can be divided up into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of motive power used; the world's first passenger train or tram was the Swansea and Mumbles Railway, in Wales, UK.
The Mumbles Railway Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1804, horse-drawn service started in 1807. The service was restarted in 1860, again using horses, it was worked by steam from 1877, from 1929, by large electric tramcars, until closure in 1961. The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was something of a one-off however, no street tramway would appear in Britain until 1860 when one was built in Birkenhead by the American George Francis Train. Street railways developed in America before Europe due to the poor paving of the streets in American cities which made them unsuitable for horsebuses, which were common on the well-paved streets of European cities. Running the horsecars on rails allowed for a much smoother ride. There are records of a street railway running in Baltimore as early as 1828, however the first authenticated streetcar in America, was the New York and Harle
Texas
Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Geographically located in the South Central region of the country, Texas shares borders with the U. S. states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas to the southwest, while the Gulf of Mexico is to the southeast. Houston is the most populous city in Texas and the fourth largest in the U. S. while San Antonio is the second-most populous in the state and seventh largest in the U. S. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country, respectively. Other major cities include Austin, the second-most populous state capital in the U. S. and El Paso. Texas is nicknamed "The Lone Star State" to signify its former status as an independent republic, as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico; the "Lone Star" can be found on the Texan state seal.
The origin of Texas's name is from the word taysha. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, Texas contains diverse landscapes common to both the U. S. Southern and Southwestern regions. Although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10% of Texas's land area is desert. Most of the population centers are in areas of former prairies, grasslands and the coastline. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the desert and mountains of the Big Bend; the term "six flags over Texas" refers to several nations. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas. France held a short-lived colony. Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the union as the 28th state; the state's annexation set off a chain of events that led to the Mexican–American War in 1846.
A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, joined the Confederate States of America on March 2nd of the same year. After the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. Four major industries shaped the Texas economy prior to World War II: cattle and bison, cotton and oil. Before and after the U. S. Civil War the cattle industry, which Texas came to dominate, was a major economic driver for the state, thus creating the traditional image of the Texas cowboy. In the 19th century cotton and lumber grew to be major industries as the cattle industry became less lucrative, it was though, the discovery of major petroleum deposits that initiated an economic boom which became the driving force behind the economy for much of the 20th century. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy and high tech industry in the mid-20th century.
As of 2015, it is second on the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with 54. With a growing base of industry, the state leads in many industries, including agriculture, energy and electronics, biomedical sciences. Texas has led the U. S. in state export revenue since 2002, has the second-highest gross state product. If Texas were a sovereign state, it would be the 10th largest economy in the world; the name Texas, based on the Caddo word táyshaʼ "friend", was applied, in the spelling Tejas or Texas, by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves the Hasinai Confederacy, the final -s representing the Spanish plural. The Mission San Francisco de los Tejas was completed near the Hasinai village of Nabedaches in May 1690, in what is now Houston County, East Texas. During Spanish colonial rule, in the 18th century, the area was known as Nuevo Reino de Filipinas "New Kingdom of the Philippines", or as provincia de los Tejas "province of the Tejas" also provincia de Texas, "province of Texas", it was incorporated as provincia de Texas into the Mexican Empire in 1821, declared a republic in 1836.
The Royal Spanish Academy recognizes both spellings and Texas, as Spanish-language forms of the name of the U. S. State of Texas; the English pronunciation with /ks/ is unetymological, based in the value of the letter x in historical Spanish orthography. Alternative etymologies of the name advanced in the late 19th century connected the Spanish teja "rooftile", the plural tejas being used to designate indigenous Pueblo settlements. A 1760s map by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin shows a village named Teijas on Trinity River, close to the site of modern Crockett. Texas is the second-largest U. S. state, with an area of 268,820 square miles. Though 10% larger than France and twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Zambia. Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers; the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas to the south.
The Red River forms a natural border with Arkansas to the north. The Sabine River forms a natural border with Louisiana to the east; the Texas Panhandle has an eastern border with Oklahoma at 100° W, a northern border with Oklahoma at 36°30' N and a western
Streetcars in Washington, D.C.
For just under 100 years, between 1862 and 1962, streetcars in Washington, D. C. transported people across the region. The first streetcars in Washington, D. C. were carried people short distances on flat terrain. Several of the District's streetcar lines were extended into Maryland, two Virginia lines crossed into the District. For a brief time, the city experimented with cable cars, but by the beginning of the 20th century, the streetcar system was electrified. A bit the extensive mergers dubbed the "Great Streetcar Consolidation" gathered most local transit firms into two major companies. In 1933, all streetcars were brought under Capital Transit; the streetcars began to scale back with the rising popularity of the automobile and pressure to switch to buses. After a strike in 1955, the company changed ownership and became DC Transit, with explicit instructions to switch to buses; the system was dismantled in the early 1960s and the last streetcar ran on January 28, 1962. Today streetcars, car barns, trackage and right-of-way of the system still exist in various states of usage.
Tracks are still visible on 3200 to 3400 blocks of O st NW and P st NW. Public transportation began in Washington, D. C. as soon as the city was founded. In May 1800, two-horse stage coaches began running twice daily from Bridge and High Streets NW in Georgetown by way of M Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW/SE to William Tunnicliff's Tavern at the site now occupied by the Supreme Court Building. Service ended; the next attempt at public transit arrived in the spring of 1830, when Gilbert Vanderwerken's Omnibuses, horse-drawn wagons, began running from Georgetown to the Navy Yard. The company maintained stables on M Street, NW; these lines were extended down 11th Street SE to the waterfront and up 7th Street NW to L Street NW. Vanderwerken's success attracted competitors, who added new lines, but by 1854, all omnibuses had come under the control of two companies, "The Union Line" and "The Citizen's Line." In 1860, these two merged under the control of Vanderwerken and continued to operate until they were run out of business by the next new technology: streetcars.
Streetcars began operation in New York City along the Bowery in 1832, but the technology did not become popular until 1852, when Alphonse Loubat invented a side-bearing rail that could be laid flush with the street surface, allowing the first horse-drawn streetcar lines. The technology began to spread and on May 17, 1862, the first Washington, D. C. streetcar company, the Washington and Georgetown Railroad was incorporated. The company ran the first streetcar in Washington, D. C. from the Capitol to the State Department starting on July 29, 1862. It expanded to full operations from the Navy Yard to Georgetown on October 2, 1862. Another line opened on November 15, 1862, it was built along 7th Street NW from N Street NW to the Potomac River and expanded to the Arsenal in 1875. A third line ran down 14th Street NW from Boundary Street NW to the Treasury Building. In 1863 the 7th Street line was extended north to Boundary Street NW; the Washington and Georgetown's monopoly didn't last long. On July 1, 1864, a second streetcar company, the Metropolitan Railroad, was incorporated.
It opened lines from the Capitol to the War Department along H Street NW. In 1872, it purchased the Union Railroad, it used the Union's charter to expand into Georgetown. In 1873 it purchased the Boundary and Silver Spring Railway and used its charter to build north on what is now Georgia Avenue. In June 1874, it absorbed the Connecticut Avenue and Park Railway and its line on Connecticut Avenue from the White House to Boundary Avenue. By 1888, it had built additional lines down 4th Street NW/SW to P Street SW, on East Capitol Street to 9th Street. Chartered by Congress on May 24, 1870 and beginning operations the same year, the Columbia Railway was the city's third horse car operator, it ran from the Treasury Building along H Street NW/NE to the city boundary at 15th Street NE. The company built a car barn and stable on the east side of 15th Street just south of H Street at the eastern end of the line; the Anacostia and Potomac River Railroad was chartered on May 5, 1870. It wasn't given approval by Congress until February 18, 1875.
The streetcars traveled from the Arsenal and crossed the Navy Yard Bridge to Uniontown to Nichols Avenue SE and V Street SE where a car barn and stables were maintained by the company. In 1888 the Anacostia and Potomac River expanded from the Navy Yard to Congressional Cemetery, past Garfield Park to the Center Market in downtown, it expanded up Nichols Avenue past the Government Hospital for the Insane. The last streetcar company to begin operation during the horsecar era was the Capitol, North O Street and South Washington Railway, it was incorporated on March 3, 1875, began operation that year. It ran on a circular route around downtown D. C. A P Street NW track was added in 1876. In 1881, the route was extended north and south on 11th Street West and tracks were rerouted across the Mall, it changed its name to the Belt Railway on February 18, 1893. During this time, streetcars competed with numerous horse-drawn chariot companies. Starting on March 5, 1877, the date of Pres
Dillard's
Dillard's Inc. is an American department store chain with 292 stores in 29 states headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. The largest number of stores are located in Florida with 42 and Texas with 57, but the company has stores in 27 more states although it is absent from the Northeast, most of the Upper Midwest, the Northwest, most of California, aside from three stores in smaller cities. Dillard's is the outgrowth of a department store founded in 1938 by William T. Dillard; the family still controls the company through its ownership of Class B Common Stock. Dillard sold the original five and dime store in Nashville, Arkansas, to develop a department store in Texarkana, Arkansas as the minority partner in Wooten & Dillard. In 1956, Dillard led an investment group that acquired the Schmidt store in Tyler, Texas; this store took on the name "Dillard's Mayer & Schmidt" until 1974, when it was replaced with a mall-based location south of downtown Tyler. In 1960, Dillard turned around the failing Brown-Duncan store in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The success of this turnaround was followed in late 1963 by acquiring the Joseph Pfeifer store in Little Rock, in early 1964 acquiring the other main store in Little Rock, Gus Blass Co. Dillard used this as an opportunity to relocate his headquarters to Little Rock. In 1969, Dillard and his investors took Dillard Department Stores, Inc. public on the American Stock Exchange. Thereafter, the chain expanded as an anchor in suburban shopping malls, took advantage of market conditions to acquire smaller chains as well as its ability to turn around locations that other companies could not operate profitably. Expansion of the Dillard's chain increased during the 1970s through expanding into new malls being built in smaller cities in Texas. In 1971 five Texas units were acquired from a division of Federated Department Stores. In 1974 five Leonard's stores were acquired in Fort Worth, Texas, as well as a commitment to open a new downtown Fort Worth store at the Tandy Center. In 1974, the former Brown-Dunkin, Blass and Mayer & Schmidt stores were renamed Dillard's.
The 1980s brought the purchase of many local chains. In 1982, Dillard's leased three units of the defunct Lowenstein's chain in Tennessee. In early 1984, Dillard’s acquired 12 Stix, Baer & Fuller stores in St. Louis and Kansas City from Associated Dry Goods Corp. while in fall 1984 two department store divisions were purchased from Dayton-Hudson Corporation: Diamond's and John A. Brown, with locations in Arizona and Oklahoma. Twelve stores in Kansas and Missouri belonging to R. H. Macy & Co.'s Midwest Division, dissolved in 2006, were acquired in early 1986, while the three-unit Hemphill-Wells company in West Texas was purchased in the summer. The stores at Sunset Mall in San Angelo and South Plains Mall in Lubbock were both converted, while the third in downtown Lubbock was closed. In 1987, Dillard's purchased 26 of Joske's 27 stores in Texas and Arizona as well as the four unit Cain-Sloan chain in Nashville, from Allied Stores Corp; this deal gave Dillard's two major anchor locations at several malls in Texas and Arizona with many of the second locations being converted to a separate, expanded home and men's stores, a format that Dillard's utilized both to grow its store size cost and to prevent competitors from gaining valuable real estate.
Additionally the Joske's acquisition gave Dillard's entry into the Houston market. Dillard's in 1988 acquired the former Selber Bros. clothing department store chain, founded in 1907 in Shreveport, which had a few locations in Texas. In 1988, Dillard's purchased the three-unit Miller & Paine chain in Lincoln, Nebraska, as well as more a half-interest and operational control of The Higbee Co. based in Cleveland, with partner Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. D. H. Holmes Co. Ltd. of New Orleans, was purchased in 1989, bringing 18 units in Louisiana, as well two former Diamond's units in Tucson, Arizona. The Ivey's chain of 23 stores in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina was acquired from BATUS in 1990; this was followed by the acquisition of eight Florida Gulf Coast stores from Maison Blanche Co. in 1991. In 1992, the remaining interest in the Higbee's stores were acquired, as well as five Ohio stores from Horne's. In 1992, three stores from the Hess's chain liquidation, two E. M. Scarbrough's locations in Austin, two Thalhimer's in South Carolina and Tennessee, a former Lord & Taylor store in Memphis and three Belk-Lindsey stores in Florida were acquired by Dillard's in 1996.
Except for two Belk of Columbia stores that were acquired in 1995, acquisitions were eschewed for a couple of years until early 1997 when ten buildings in Florida were sold from Mervyn's, which left the area to better focus on its core markets. The locations bought by Dillard's were at Cutler Ridge Mall, Miami International Mall, Pembroke Lakes Mall, Broward Mall, Coral Square, Pompano Fashion Square, Boynton Beach Mall, Treasure Coast Square, Melbourne Square, Lakeland Square Mall although two of t
