January 17th is Cable Car Day!
The cable car was invented because a man named Andrew Smith Hallidie noticed that horses were struggling to get up the steep streets of San Francisco. In 1871, he received a patent for his system, and by late 1873, the first cable car was installed and working on Clay Street (at Kearny).
I’m just telling you a small part of the whole cable car tale. It’s really quite a story! Read more about it here.
A recently-refurbished portrait of Hallidie hangs at the Mechanics Institute in San Francisco. On January 20, the Institute’s librarian is hosting a talk about his life and an unveiling of the restored portrait.
