New technologies and urban streets before the trolley

The opposition to overhead wires was part of a long struggle over control of city streets. The struggle involved urban residents, manufacturer, small and large retailers, teamsters, and transportation companies. These groups entered into a variety of coalitions that fought over everything from methods of street paving to locations of railroad stations.

Often there were struggles against mechanized street transportations—an opposition that emerged with the first intercity steam railroads. In the United States and Europe almost all large cities banned the new steam locomotive from urban streets. It was used for intercity travel but not within the city.

When the distance between the railroad terminus to the city centre was not within a short distance such as Philadelphia and NY, the railroad continued to the city centre but used horses instead of locomotives. Urban residents sometimes objected to these lines as well, arguing that they were merely a prelude to the introduction of steam locomotives. The courts generally sided with property owners, ruling that intercity travel was an impermissible use of city streets.