Streetcar Days
This is how your grandparents got to school, to work, and to shopping in the Twin Cities: They rode the streetcar.
By 1900, electric streetcars had replaced horse-drawn cars. By 1917, 444 miles of streetcar tracks ran from Stillwater to Lake Minnetonka. The fare was five cents.
The popular resort area of Lake Minnetonka was serviced by streetcar company steam boats that left the docks in Hopkins. School kids took a boat, then a streetcar, to reach school in town.
For a quick overview of the streetcar's history, go to the Timeline.
You can see photographs from the Minnesota Historical Society in the Album section.
You can follow the development of streetcar technology, from the humble horsecar to today's sleek transport, in the Tech section. Learn about the boats, too.
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