New Southwest Light Rail Brings Back Old Memories
by Mary Raabe
first published in 2020
One of the first horsecars in downtown Minneapolis. Photo published by Minneapolis Tribune.
I wish I had a time machine.
I would go back 70 years and take that streetcar ride again, the one I took with my grandmother, Marie Maloney Anderson, in 1950. I would relive the excitement as I boarded that enormous yellow machine that sizzled, sparked, and clanged. I still remember the thrill as we inched our way over the viaduct and traveled through the ‘countryside’ to Brookside, around Lake Calhoun, and finally north on Hennepin, deboarding downtown. For a little kid, it was a big trip. Streetcars first appeared in our area in 1875 when business magnate Thomas Lowry, president of the Minneapolis Street Railway Company, later to become the Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT), introduced public transportation to Minneapolis. Lowry’s streetcars ran on steel tracks and were pulled by a team of two horses. Horsecars, or “Tom Lowrys” as they were called, had a 6 mile an hour speed limit and only 2.1 miles of track. But they served the city well and public transportation was catching on fast. As demand grew, it wasn’t long before these horse-powered cars became obsolete, replaced by electric-powered streetcars. On Christmas Eve 1889, to music and hoopla, the first electric streetcar rolled down 4th Avenue, heralding the advent of electric transportation. It was an exciting moment to say the least. Sparks spewed forth from the wheels, sending the crowd scurrying. Rumors ran rampant that the tracks could electrocute a horse. And surely those heavy cars would get stuck in the snow. But fears were soon quelled and the new trolley quickly won over its skeptics. In its 1920s heyday, the Twin City Rapid Transit company had over 900 streetcars and 530 miles of track stretching from the St. Croix River to Lake Minnetonka. According to the book Twin Cities by Trolley by John W. Diers and Aaron Isaacs, in many areas of the Twin Cities streetcars ran so often it was like “waiting for an elevator.” They came every 10 minutes. No one ever looked at a schedule. Streetcars had a unique mechanical personality and repertoire of sounds–from the roar of the gears and the electric motors…to the steady ka plunk ka plunk of the compressor as it recharged the air brakes . . . You could smell them, too: a pleasant blend of hot brake shoes, gear oil and ozone. 
Hopkins streetcar in front of Minneapolis Moline. Photo from Hopkins Historical Society archives.
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In 1892, just two years after Lowry introduced the electric streetcar, real estate developer, industrialist, and art collector T. B. Walker established his own trolley line from Minneapolis to St. Louis Park. In 1897, he extended service to Hopkins. The line went from Lake Street (now Walker Street) in St. Louis Park to Monk Avenue (now Blake Road), south on Monk to Excelsior Boulevard, and then to 6th Avenue.
 Heading east on the viaduct going over the railroad tracks on the south side of Hopkins. Photo from Hopkins Historical Society archives.
Walker’s St. Louis Park line was hugely popular in Hopkins. The streetcar brought workers to the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company (later Minneapolis Moline) and brought Hopkins residents to downtown Minneapolis for business, shopping, and a little fun. The “Saturday Night Hopkins Car” was so packed with passengers the men had to get off and push it up Oak Hill in St. Louis Park before continuing on to Hopkins.
In front of Jorgensen’s Confectionary on 9th Avenue North. Photo from Hopkins Historical Society archives.
In the fall of 1905, the TCRT began its own streetcar service between Minneapolis and Hopkins and in 1906 the TCRT bought the Walker line, discontinuing service from St. Louis Park to Hopkins.
The new TCRT streetcar service continued to stop at the Minneapolis Threshing Company and in 1906 a spur was built that took the streetcar into Hopkins stopping in front of Nelson’s Confectionary, (later Jorgensen’s Confectionery) on 9th Avenue North. Tokens and schedules were available at Jorgensen’s lunch counter and riders were always welcome to wait inside. In a 2016 interview, Ruth Jorgensen Doyle, daughter of owner Einer Jorgensen, spoke fondly of her childhood in Hopkins. “I loved growing up in Hopkins, living in an apartment over a candy store and hearing the charming clang of the trolley.” With 39 stops a day, the streetcar was an essential and colorful part of the Hopkins landscape. Dennis Madden, Hopkins resident and businessman recalled how the street car would turn around in front of his house: The streetcar would stop about half way up 9th Avenue north where I lived as a boy. The conductor would get out and move the trolley pole to the second overhead wire, and then back up the trolley in front of the alley north of Mainstreet. The trolley would then pull out on the tracks that would take it back down 9th Avenue, across Excelsior Avenue, over the viaduct, and then to Edina and the area of 50th and France. I used to take that street car when I carried the Hennepin County Review newspaper to Edina. |
Streetcar Boats Join the Hopkins Line
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In 1905, Thomas Lowry extended his Hopkins service to Lake Minnetonka to access the Big Island Amusement Park, lake area hotels, resorts and points of interest. He built a fleet of canary yellow streetcar boats, similar in design to complement his company’s land-based streetcars. During the winter of 1905–1906 the Twin City Rapid Transit constructed six 70-foot streetcar boats in its South Minneapolis streetcar shop. Each had a 14-ton steam engine and could accommodate 65 passengers inside and another 65 riders on the upper deck. Building these huge boats in a streetcar shop had to be a story in and of itself!
In the spring of 1906, these six streetcar boats were carefully loaded onto flat beds, transported to Excelsior, and launched into Lake Minnetonka. The boats bore the names of six stops on its transportation network–the Minnehaha, Como, Harriet, Hopkins, Stillwater, and White Bear. 
Fare from Hopkins to Minneapolis was a 10 cent token. Artifact from Hopkins Historical Society collections.
These neat and stately streetcar boats ferried passengers in great style until access roads were constructed around Lake Minnetonka to accommodate the automobile. In 1926, with ridership down, three of the streetcar boats were scuttled, sunk on purpose, north of Big Island. The Como, White Bear, and Minnehaha were unceremoniously stripped of their superstructures, filled with red clay roofing tile from the old Big Island Pavilion, and scuttled. A few years later, the Stillwater and the Harriet joined their sisters and were scuttled as well. The only remaining streetcar boat was the Hopkins, which was eventually painted a nondescript white, renamed the Minnetonka, and summoned into charter service. The streetcar line between Hopkins and Lake Minnetonka finally stopped running in 1932, and in 1949 the Minnetonka was also sunk, her whereabouts unknown.
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Many divers had tried to find these boats, but they remained elusive, entombed in their deep-water graves until the summer of 1979. During a routine dive to test deep water equipment for the North Dakota Garrison Diversion Project, an unsuspecting diver was dropped directly on top of the Minnehaha’s hull–in 65 feet of cold dark water! What a surprise that must have been.
Postcard from Hopkins Historical Society archives.
Plans to salvage the Minnehaha began almost immediately. It took 3 cranes, 20 divers, 8 airbags, and 6 days, but the Minnehaha was finally lifted up in the summer of 1980. The hull was in remarkably good condition, with the vessel’s cypress planking still firmly attached to its oak ribs. Ten years later, after resolving legal and ownership issues, restoration by the Minnesota Transportation Museum began. It took six years and 80,000 hours of volunteer time before the Minnehaha could be relaunched, but relaunched she was, to become a popular summer attraction on Lake Minnetonka. At least until now. It was recently announced that the Minnehaha's 2020 sailing season has been cancelled. The current launch site is being sold and the Museum of Lake Minnetonka is working hard to secure a permanent home for the Minnehaha.
Wooden sign displayed in the window of the Como Harriet streetcar to tell riders a car would connect to Hopkins at 44th and France. Artifact from Hopkins Historical Society collections donated by Doug Fuerst.
By the 1950s, the era of the streetcar was forced to come to a close, its dominion over public transportation relinquished to city and suburban buses. The last streetcar left Hopkins on August 3, 1951, and the last streetcar left Minneapolis in the summer of 1954.
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Light Rail Returns to Hopkins
And now, after a 70-year absence, the era of electric streetcars is about to return to Hopkins. In many parts of town one can see evidence of light rail construction that will serve Hopkins starting in 2023. Our new viaduct is already being built. They call it a bridge now and it will span Excelsior Boulevard and the railroad track on the east end of town.
The new light rail cars will be different–a lot more streamlined, without a hint of ozone or the smell of hot oil. Nothing will spark and sizzle. And no one will ever have to get out and push it up a hill! But as much as we welcome this new and efficient form of travel, we still remember with great nostalgia that meandering and scenic trolley ride from Hopkins to Minneapolis, over the viaduct, through Edina’s countryside and around the Minneapolis lakes. There are no time machines and we can’t turn back the clock; but if we could, who wouldn’t give up their soft-drink holders, air conditioning, and dashboard phones for one last ride on that charming yellow trolley that graced and served Hopkins for well over five decades?
For the true trolley enthusiast, the old 1300 Como Harriet car that ran near lake Harriet in Minneapolis was restored in the fall of 1971 and is available for rides from Memorial Day through Labor Day. See trolleyride.org for more information.
The new light rail cars will be different–a lot more streamlined, without a hint of ozone or the smell of hot oil. Nothing will spark and sizzle. And no one will ever have to get out and push it up a hill! But as much as we welcome this new and efficient form of travel, we still remember with great nostalgia that meandering and scenic trolley ride from Hopkins to Minneapolis, over the viaduct, through Edina’s countryside and around the Minneapolis lakes. There are no time machines and we can’t turn back the clock; but if we could, who wouldn’t give up their soft-drink holders, air conditioning, and dashboard phones for one last ride on that charming yellow trolley that graced and served Hopkins for well over five decades?
For the true trolley enthusiast, the old 1300 Como Harriet car that ran near lake Harriet in Minneapolis was restored in the fall of 1971 and is available for rides from Memorial Day through Labor Day. See trolleyride.org for more information.
Sources
Anderson, Steve. “A Streetcar Named Persistence.” Sun Newspaper, 25 June 1974.
Blomquist, Clint. History of Electric Trains in the Hopkins Area. 1980.
“Cities Trolleys Go Clanging into Oblivion.” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, 13 June 1954.
“A Dark Dive Brings and Old Boat to Light in Minnetonka.” Minneapolis Star, 31 July 1979.
Diers, John W., and Aaron Isaacs. Twin Cities by Trolley: the Streetcar Era in Minneapolis and St. Paul. University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
Johnson, Walter. “Not a Street Car in Sight.” Minneapolis Star, 9 June 1954.
Norman, Amanda. Human Geography Cultural Landscape 44*55’30”N93*27’46W. 2015.
Peterson, Eric Sayer. The Little Yellow Fleet: a History of the Lake Minnetonka Streetcar Boats. Minnesota Transportation Museum, 1994.
Read, Katy. “Salvaged Steamboat Needs a New Launchpad.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 1 Dec. 2019.
“When Streetcars Ran on Lake Minnetonka.” Minneapolist Star and Tribune Magazine, 2 Sept. 1985.
Blomquist, Clint. History of Electric Trains in the Hopkins Area. 1980.
“Cities Trolleys Go Clanging into Oblivion.” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, 13 June 1954.
“A Dark Dive Brings and Old Boat to Light in Minnetonka.” Minneapolis Star, 31 July 1979.
Diers, John W., and Aaron Isaacs. Twin Cities by Trolley: the Streetcar Era in Minneapolis and St. Paul. University of Minnesota Press, 2007.
Johnson, Walter. “Not a Street Car in Sight.” Minneapolis Star, 9 June 1954.
Norman, Amanda. Human Geography Cultural Landscape 44*55’30”N93*27’46W. 2015.
Peterson, Eric Sayer. The Little Yellow Fleet: a History of the Lake Minnetonka Streetcar Boats. Minnesota Transportation Museum, 1994.
Read, Katy. “Salvaged Steamboat Needs a New Launchpad.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, 1 Dec. 2019.
“When Streetcars Ran on Lake Minnetonka.” Minneapolist Star and Tribune Magazine, 2 Sept. 1985.