Beneath the Concrete, the Rails: Streetcars in Southwest Minneapolis

In 1900, you could ride for a nickel a trip. The Twin Cities was once home to one of the best streetcar systems in the United States. In the early 20th century, tourists and residents used streetcars to travel to work, as well as to scenic locations in Southwest Minneapolis.

Minneapolis built its first streetcar line in 1875. The first streetcars were ten feet long and seated twelve passengers. These streetcars were set on rails but pulled by horses. In the 1880s, horse-drawn streetcars ran down Lyndale, Chicago, Washington, and Bloomington Avenues. Rails made the horses’ work easier, but powering public transit by animal had limited application as the animals needed to be cared for and housed.

St. Paul chose to try switching its streetcars to cable, but this proved difficult to maintain.

Innovation came in 1887 when Frank Julian Sprague invented the first successful electric street railway system. Electrical wires, suspended over tracks, fed the streetcars electrical power. Streetcars contacted the wires by long poles attached to the top of the cars.

Electric streetcars were a more successful option for mass transit and by 1892, Minneapolis and St. Paul had electrified all their rail lines.

Transit from downtown Minneapolis to Lake Harriet was first powered by steam. Called the Motor Line, the trains had three cars. July 4, 1880 was the opening day of the Motor Line’s extension to Lake Harriet and that day the route proved to be wildly popular.

All three cars were packed until almost 11 at night. The Minneapolis Journal reported, “People sat on the floors, hung on the railings, clung to the steps, in fact generally swarmed all over the trains.” It is estimated that approximately 5,000 visitors came to Lake Harriet that Independence Day, most of them traveling by Motor Line.

Electric streetcar reached Linden Hills in 1891, the same year Thomas Lowry combined the Motor Line and the rest of the Minneapolis Street Railway Company with the St. Paul City Railway Company to create the Twin Cities Rapid Transit Company.

To attract people away from downtown Minneapolis and towards Lake Harriet, a relatively remote destination at the time, developers and hired theatre and music attractions to entertain visitors. Pony rides, scenic picnic sites, bicycling and boating were additional attractions to the area.

Tourist maps produced by the Twin City Rapid Transit Company encouraged visitors to travel to other scenic southwest Minneapolis locations as well. A map entitled, The Twin Cities, Their Famous Lakes, Rivers, Parks and Resorts, instructs visitors to take the streetcar to Washburn Park (now known as Tangletown).

The map describes the attraction of the area, “Minnehaha Creek, singing over it’s pebbly bed…looks like a picture stream, and you will carry away a delightful memory of its rustic beauty.”

In 1915, A.W. Warnock of Twin Cities Lines even recommended streetcar riding as a curative pursuit, “A medical expert says that trolley riding is the best cure in the world for nerves. The worst case, he declares, can be cured by the combination of the fresh air, the sunlight, the change of scenery, and the slight, natural, pleasant jar of the car.”

Streetcar use in the Twin Cities reached its peak in 1920 when it carried more than 238 million riders. Streetcars remained a popular mode of transportation through World War II, when gas and tires were rationed, but after the war, riders returned to their cars.

The streetcar system in the Twin Cities was losing riders rapidly by the time investor Charles Green acquired enough shares to control the company in 1949. Green described himself as a man, “always ready to make a fast buck.” Determined to make money, Green cut streetcar service, reduced maintenance, and laid off hundred of employees.

By 1951, Green has alienated the public and turned over control of the company to Fred Ossanna. Ridership of streetcars continued to drop, and Ossanna hired a consultant from Los Angeles to convert the streetcar system to buses. By 1954, streetcars were a thing of the past.

But good news for rail lovers: The Minneapolis City Council has a long-term plan to build streetcars back into our infrastructure. They just snagged $900,000 for a feasability study a couple months back.

Although those older streetcars are long gone as a mode of public transportation, those wanting to experience a piece of streetcar history have an opportunity. During the summer months the operates historic streetcars, which depart from the Linden Hills Station (at Queen Ave and 43rd Street) for a $2 fare. The Como-Harriet streetcar line begins running May 7th.

For the even more ardent streetcar-history buff, training starts soon to become a volunteer streetcar operator for the Minnesota Streetcar Museum. To see a copy of their call for streetcar operators, .