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Minneapolis streetcars, 1933

February 04, 2009
by Paul Schmelzer •Back in the day -- 1933, to be precise -- a streetcar line made its last stop on my North Minneapolis street, according to this illustration by Brett McKean. At the peak of the Twin Cities' streetcar system in the early '30s, there were some 530 miles of service and 1021 cars (by that time, a 20-year experiment with "streetcar boats" on Lake Minnetonka had fizzled). But by 1951 the number of cars was down to 758 and, just three years later, zero, according to this glowing article from the July 1954 issue of Mass Transportation Magazine.




Eyeteeth - Paul Schmelzer is a writer, editor, and journalist, and the managing editor of Minnesota Independent. Occasional posts from his blog, Eyeteeth, are re-published with his permission.
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Minneapolis Streetcars

Submitted by W.W. from West Palm Beach, FL (not verified) on Sun, 2009-02-08 13:50.
Thank you for the informative posting by Paul Schmelzer about Minneapolis Streetcars with it's link to the article in the July 1954 issue of Mass Transportation Magazine. It is very interesting to note that as the story praised the transition to "an all rubber transit system", it told of how one could once ride clear across the metro area on the streetcar system. I wonder how easily the same could be accomplished today on buses. Also, as the transition to buses required infrastructure that automobiles also could use, it is very telling that even in 1954, there were "just dang too many autos", as the article stated in it's closing sentence. The picture used to show this opinion looks like an almost empty street by today's norm. I'm of the opinion that if the streetcar line had been updated instead of abandoned (at great cost), the pedestrian friendly system enabled by electric rail transit could have allowed greater public access, creating less pollution and providing for a more vibrant, centralized downtown area.

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