Streetcars (also known as trolley cars) are public passenger vehicles that run along railway tracks set in the street. Power for streetcars normally is drawn from an overhead electric wire. Early streetcars were pulled by horses. The horsecar concept originated in 1832 with the beginning of operations of the New York and Harlem Railroad Company in New York City. Electric streetcars were developed in the 1880's. Frank J. Sprague of Richmond, VA, developed the first practical system of electric railway traction in 1888. Quickly adopted in urban transportation in the United States, more than 25,000 miles of street railways were operating by World War I.