Houston City Streetway Company (HCSC) began operating construction and operation of animal-powered streetcar lines in 1874. The first streetcar service began in 1868, but these early attempts to establish service in Houston were commercial failures. HCSC developed service in the business district, then centered on Congress Avenue and Main Street, though one the first four lines extended as fair south as the Fairgrounds. Another line offered service on Congress to the International & Great Northern Railroad depot. Suburban subdivisions were developed near the Fairgrounds around the same time, and residential developers used the emerging streetcar lines to promote these new subdivisions. Lots sales in these more remote areas, however, did not sell quickly in the 1870s. An upstart company, the Bayou City Street Railway, built its main line further south on Texas Avenue in 1883. Later the same year, William Sinclair and Henry MacGregor acquired both streetcar companies and consolidated their operations. From 1874 until 1891 all of the transit service was operated using mule-driven streetcars, when electric streetcars began to be implemented in their place.