First practical cable car system (Clay Street Hill Railroad)

San Francisco is the birthplace of the first practical cable car system, the Clay Street Hill Railroad, which began operation in 1873 and was developed by Andrew Smith Hallidie to climb the city’s steep hills. The Cable Car Museum preserves original machinery, historic cars, and documents related to the early cable car lines. The museum interprets the technology and history of the Clay Street line and subsequent San Francisco cable car system. The museum sits near the original Clay Street operations and the surviving operational Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde lines still run in the vicinity.