City Shows Off Light Rail 120 Years Ago

September 3, 4:49 PMSouth St. Paul ExaminerRob Shirk

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The Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis have lagged behind other cities as far as light rail construction. Although one link has been built connecting downtown Minneapolis to the Mall of America via the airport, there has been no construction of a link between the two cities via the University of Minnesota even though the prevailing thought by our lawmakers is that it will happen within the next five years or so. 

One of the hang-ups has been the disruption it would cause those who use University Avenue, the historical link between St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the businesses that would be hung out to dry as the parking and foot traffic  evaporates as the train goes chugging by. Whether new businesses and restaurants and such will replace those who are already in place is a hot button political football and has been for, say, 121 years. Charles Clark built his idea in 1888 and we're still arguing about it.

There was a proposal  that the newly authorized  South St. Paul Rapid Transit Elevated Railway Company (known as the Enos Company) would  build a line from the ravines and gullies that mark the natural boundary of land sites on the bluff to the lower industrial district along the Mississippi thence traveling on to St. Paul and eventually to Minneapolis.  

The construction was an electric monorail and was built and in operation for a May 1888 demonstration  in front of about 200 dignitaries. There weren't as many people here  as what the Republican National Convention has had, but a good sized group nevertheless. The fledgling line was built along one of the steepest ravines in the city and traveled for its test track along the Bryant Avenue Ravine turning south at the top towards the Central Avenue Ravine and back down to the river. It's a place that tests today's walkers now at least as much as it did then. Hey! It worked! Almost everybody was excited. There even was a song about about the monorail written by the second grade students from Washington School. All that was needed was the go ahead from the St. Paul city fathers to extend the line to Minneapolis via University Avenue. There was more excitement. An uproar, if you will.

Needless to say the authorization never happened. Property owners along the frontage of the proposed route howled (remember the current foot traffic debate). They howled so much that the company withdrew their application and hoped that a new council to be in place later that summer would be more forgiving. No such luck. The city fathers were OK letting the rail into St. Paul, but would have no truck in its extension to Minneapolis along a commercially viable route. Added requirements had the Enos Company enter the Capital City through West St. Paul and that they would have to build a bridge across the Mississippi to downtown, as well. They gave them four months to meet the ground-rules.

They never made it and the experiment to make St. Paul and Minneapolis a light rail friendly metro died a swift death. The Enos railway system went kaput and until cars took over, the worker's feet and the horse's hooves bore the brunt of the climb to home in South St. Paul. There is a plaque on the outside of Clark Memorial Church on 15th and Bryant, placed there in 1967, commemorating C. W. Clark's argument. Or vision.