Ramsey County History – Spring 2005: “The Force That Shaped the Neighborhoods: 1890–1953: Sixty-Three Years of Streetcars in St. Paul and Millions of Dollars in Investments”

The Force That Shaped the Neighborhoods: 1890–1953: Sixty-Three Years of Streetcars in St. Paul and Millions of Dollars in Investments 
Author: John W. Diers

Streetcars were one of the most important inventions to shape the growth and development of the Twin Cities. The privately owned streetcar system hit its peak in 1920 when it transported 238 million passengers. The first streetcar franchise was established on January 8, 1872, and, on February 22, 1890, the first electric streetcar began a journey down Grand Avenue in St. Paul and stimulated neighborhood growth. Cable railways were necessary on two steep grades. The company needed well-constructed cars, so they started building them. A forty-acre site on University and Snelling was acquired and eventually had 3,000 employees. Sometimes ,the workers were dissatisfied, as was the case in fall of 1917, when there was a long strike. Competition would soon arrive as a “jitney craze” showed the potential impact of the automobile. A long decline in streetcar usage began in the 1920s, and the Great Depression further cut into profits. Buses, which had once been feeders for the streetcars, then took over. The author does not believe that Fred Ossanna, the last owner of the system, was part of a conspiracy to destroy the streetcar system in the Twin Cities.
PDF of Diers article