Boston Consolidated Street Railway Co. - circa 1880's Unissued Railroad Stock Certificate

Unissued Stock printed by American Bank Note Co., New York & Boston, Litho. The Middlesex Railroad, which was later renamed the Boston Consolidated Street Railway, was an early street railway company that functioned in the Boston, Massachusetts region during the mid-nineteenth century. It offered horsecar services for passengers traveling between Charlestown/lower Middlesex County and downtown Boston.

The Middlesex Railroad was established on April 29, 1854, through an act of the Massachusetts state legislature, with Asa Fisk, Richard Downing, and David Kimball serving as the original corporators. The initial route proposed for the company was intended to run from one or more locations in Somerville down to Charlestown Square (currently known as City Square) in Charlestown, then continuing into Boston via the Warren Bridge and extending as far as Haymarket Square before returning to Charlestown via the Charles River Bridge. Although the Somerville segment of the line was never realized (with the rights to construct in that area eventually transferred to the Somerville Horse Railroad), work on the Charlestown and Boston sections of the route began in October 1856, and on March 6 of the following year, the first car was operated from Charlestown Neck to the intersection of Stillman and Charlestown (now North Washington) streets in Boston.