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In celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday, the Citizen is rolling out one fact each day for 150 days until July 1, highlighting the odd, the fascinating and the important bits of Ottawa history you might not know about.

Ottawa’s first streetcars began running in 1891, servicing four routes: Main, Bank Street, New Edinburgh and Elgin. At its peak in 1929, the service, run by the Ottawa Electric Company, shuttled more than 30 million riders, with 90.5 km of track sprawling to cover most of the city’s downtown and suburban areas. An amusement park near one of the streetcar routes in Britannia Park even opened as a way to promote the system.

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Alas, after the city established its own public transit operator in 1948, it ended its association with the privately-owned OEC. The last full day of streetcar service was April 30, 1959.

— Alison Mah