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Railroads --- Electric railroads --- Electrification --- Electric street-railroads --- Railroads, Electric --- Electricity in transportation --- Public utilities --- Street-railroads --- Iron horses (Railroads) --- Lines, Railroad --- Rail industry --- Rail lines --- Rail transportation --- Railroad industry --- Railroad lines --- Railroad transportation --- Railway industry --- Railways --- Communication and traffic --- Concessions --- Transportation --- Trusts, Industrial

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Streetcars played an especially important role in society around the turn of the twentieth century in Detroit, in part because of the downtown hub-and-spoke design of its main streets. During this period the streetcar was the main mode of transportation for the average citizen, as horse-drawn carriages and automobiles were not found outside of the upper class. Control over streetcar franchises was highly coveted—this control was simultaneous with having power over how and where people were transported throughout the city, making it an incredible political tool. The Thirty-Year War was a battle waged between 1892 and 1922 by the City of Detroit against the politically powerful and deeply entrenched corporations that owned streetcar franchises for control of the city’s streetway system. This compelling history shows how and why the owners of monopoly franchises of great public utilities such as bridges, street railways, electricity, natural gas, and cable television will protect and defend their privilege against public ownership or control, and is an example of how one city successfully fought back.

Urban transportation --- Street-railroads --- Trolley cars --- Electric railroads --- Electric street-railroads --- Interurban railroads --- Light rail --- Light rail transit --- LRT (Light rail transit) --- Railroads, Street --- Street car lines --- Street railways --- Streetcar lines --- Tramways --- Trolley car lines --- Local transit --- Railroads --- Railroads, Cable --- City transportation --- Metropolitan transportation --- Municipal transportation --- Transportation, Urban --- City planning --- Transportation --- Urban policy --- Social aspects --- Political aspects --- History. --- Cars --- Transports urbains --- Histoire --- Wagons --- Aspect politique --- Aspect social