Editing Brookline, Massachusetts (section)

===Transportation history===
Two branches of upper [[Boston Post Road]], established in the 1670s, passed through Brookline. Brookline Village was the original center of retail activity.<ref>[http://www.town.brookline.ma.us/Planning/brooklinevillage.html Brookline Village] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008104829/http://www.town.brookline.ma.us/Planning/brooklinevillage.html |date=October 8, 2007 }}</ref> In 1810, the Boston and Worcester Turnpike, now [[Massachusetts Route 9]], was laid out, starting on [[Huntington Avenue]] in Boston and passing through the village center on its way west.

Steam railroads came to Brookline in the middle of the 19th century. The [[Boston and Worcester Railroad]] was constructed in the early 1830s, and passed through Brookline near the Charles River. The rail line is still in active use, now paralleled by the [[Massachusetts Turnpike]]. The Highland branch of the [[Boston and Albany Railroad]] was built from Kenmore Square to Brookline Village in 1847, and was extended into Newton in 1852. In the late 1950s, this became the [[Green Line D branch]].

The portion of Beacon Street west of Kenmore Square was laid out in 1850. [[Streetcar]] tracks were laid above ground on Beacon Street in 1888, from [[Coolidge Corner]] to [[Massachusetts Avenue (metropolitan Boston)|Massachusetts Avenue]] in Boston, via Kenmore Square.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.brooklinehistoricalsociety.org/history/presComm/beaconSt.asp|title=History of Beacon St.|website=Brooklinehistoricalsociety.org|access-date=October 24, 2019}}</ref> In 1889, they were electrified and extended over the Brighton border at [[Cleveland Circle]]. They would eventually become the [[Green Line C branch]].

Due to the [[Boston Elevated Railway]] system, this upgrade from [[horse-drawn carriage]] to electric trolleys occurred on many major streets all over the region, and made transportation into downtown Boston faster and cheaper. Much of Brookline was developed into a [[streetcar suburb]], with large, brick apartment buildings sprouting up along the new streetcar lines.