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Off the Shelf: A Desire Named Streetcar
5/10/2007

offshelf
June 18, 1954, marked the last day of streetcar service in the Twin Cities, and John Diers (B.A. ’67) and Aaron Isaacs’s expansive book, Twin Cities by Trolley: The Streetcar Era in Minneapolis and St. Paul, makes frequent and somber mention of that black date. The system’s demise in favor of buses is no small source of grief to the writers, who have assembled a fond but clear-headed remembrance—conveyed in text, maps, and some 400 historical photographs—of what many regard as the finest urban railway system in the world.

Although the book has few passenger recollections or direct comparisons to other cities, the writers make a good case that Minneapolis and St. Paul enjoyed superior service, and they should know: Diers, who received a history degree with minors in geography and anthropology from the University of Minnesota and wrote for the Minnesota Daily, has been in the transit industry for 35 years; Isaacs worked for Metro Transit for 33 years.

At the system’s peak in the 1920s, more than 500 miles of streetcar track reached from Stillwater to the resorts of Lake Minnetonka, providing easy access to residents of nearly every developed area. Service was frequent, and government control kept the fares low. The streetcars themselves were locally built, meticulously maintained, and completely refurbished every five years. All these benefits came at some human cost; the railway’s workers endured long shifts (some 10-hour workdays were broken into segments and spread over 14 hours), and until the state stepped in and required enclosures, the motormen did their jobs outdoors, on the front of the streetcar, in all sorts of Minnesota weather.

Many of the book’s photographs offer clues to how the story ends. If there’s a noble streetcar in the foreground, look around the edges for a Chevrolet billboard, a Mercury dealership, or a Firestone shop. Like other privately owned systems around the country, the Twin Cities Rapid Transit Company could not keep up with the sprawling development and the automotive desires of midcentury America (nor could it deny the cost advantages of buses).

Diers and Isaacs debunk the idea that an out-and-out conspiracy brought down the streetcar, though they don’t hesitate to assign blame to corrupt profi teers, infl exible government overseers, and highway subsidies, as well as trolley devotees who failed to adapt to the changing circumstances.

Hardcore transit wonks will want to devour the entire book, from the details of the system’s labor history to the abundant specifics about voltages and fare revenues. More casual readers will delight in the huge array of photographs; most every neighborhood in Minneapolis and St. Paul is represented, with countless opportunities to compare the then and the now.

Like any good history book, Twin Cities by Trolley resonates today. Debates over transportation are as lively as ever, with the same persistent questions about the best ways to handle an ever-more-mobile populace and how to pay for it all. On a June day almost exactly 50 years after the streetcars’ demise, Minnesota started up its first light-rail line, and Diers and Isaacs’s book is excellent background as the region embarks on a new era of transit. —Jim Foti