From Early Stories to Today · Drawing 21
The electric streetcar
1892
Electric streetcars arrived in Montréal in 1892. A pole reached the wire above the street to supply electricity.
Look together
Where does the pole meet the wire?
An idea to try
Compare the two streetcars in the book. Your child finds what stays the same, then traces around the parts that make the electric streetcar different.
For the adult reading along
A little more to discover
Montréal's first electric streetcar arrived in 1892. The STM presents this step after the horse-drawn carriages. The vehicle receives electricity through a device that reaches the wire above the street. The rails remain, but the way the streetcar moves changes.
The two colouring pages invite a careful comparison. Where was the horse? What appears above the roof? Your child can follow the connection from the wire down to the vehicle. This observation explains the change without an electrical diagram. The carriage is imaginary and simplified, with no route number or specific model's branding.
Sources and context
These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. Source titles appear in their original language; some linked pages are in French.
Source review: 2026-09-12. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.