Excelsior’s Lakeside Streetcar Station!

In recent editions, we’ve spent time in Excelsior on the streetcar boat docks and aboard the streetcar Hopkins. Today, we look at the greater landscape of where this was all taking place: the Twin City Rapid Transit Company’s Excelsior station.

It’s here that traditional streetcars met with the company’s express boats. What made this operation especially unique was the tight time schedule that the boats worked on. Much like their land based partners, the express boats were incredibly reliable to locals and visitors alike.

While many Minneapolis & Saint Paul residents would venture to Minnetonka for an afternoon’s visit, much of the clientele served by the express boats were local residents who commuted into the cities for work. They stopped at over twenty ports around Lower Lake and Upper Lake. Their ultimate destination was here in Excelsior. Today, many may wonder where exactly the Excelsior station was located. The station stood near modern day Maynards restaurant.

Today, you can still see remaining streetcar rails near the restaurant and board an original streetcar near the Excelsior library. This unique historical attraction is operated by the Minnesota Transportation Museum and features the Excelsior museum next door, which is operated by the Lake Minnetonka Historical Society. Certainly a worthwhile visit on any warm summer weekend!

After Twin City Rapid Transit shuttered the Excelsior station in the early 1920’s, the land was purchased and rebuilt into the Excelsior Amusement Park. The original station building, seen here, remained standing within the park and makes an appearance in nearly all photos of the park taken from the lake.
As for Twin City Rapid Transit, they continued to experience slumping ticket sales across their company as the automobile gained in relevance.

By 1954, the last streetcar had ran in Minneapolis and the tracks were dismantled that same year. The company, however, still remains partially in existence today. You may know it by its modern name, “Metro Transit”.