At the beginning of the 19th century, Belgrade was entered through four main gates: the Sava Gate, Varoš Gate, Stambol Gate and Vidin Gate. The city was divided into two unequal parts: a smaller Serbian quarter stretching towards the Sava and a larger Ottoman quarter, Dorćol, towards the Danube. Its streets were winding and mostly paved with traditional cobblestones. Some were extremely steep, and at night the city had no street lighting. At the time, Belgrade also had two suburbs, Savamala and Palilula. From 1835 onwards, the city began to expand towards present-day Vračar.
Prince Miloš invited engineer Franz Janke to draw up an urban plan for the city. By the 1840s, Belgrade had expanded towards Palilula and connected with Vračar. New legislation laid the foundations for the city's planned development, and in 1867 Emilijan Josimović produced Belgrade's first modern urban plan.
That same year, with the end of Ottoman rule in Belgrade, the city entered a new phase of modernisation. The urban centre gradually shifted towards the Knez Mihailova–Slavija axis. Belgrade's first tram ran along this route, initially horse-drawn and, from 1892, electrically powered. A year later, the city opened its first power station and introduced electric street lighting. The first modern water supply system began operating in 1892, while a sewer system was introduced in 1914.
