Curious Minnesota: Where did suburban streetcar lines run and why were they removed?
A hundred years ago, you could get from Minneapolis to Excelsior as quickly as that 18-mile trip takes today at rush hour — about 45 minutes — but instead of fuming in gridlock, you'd breeze along, gazing at fields and trees from a streetcar.
From the late 1800s to the 1930s, streetcars were the primary mode of travel within Minneapolis and St. Paul, but also east to Stillwater, Bayport and White Bear Lake and west to Lake Minnetonka.
Streetcars brought together people of all socioeconomic classes, said John Diers, co-author with Aaron Isaacs of "Twin Cities by Trolley: The Streetcar Era in Minneapolis and St. Paul."
By: Katy Read
Story Date: 2021-04-02T12:45:00