Obscure Local History #5: Aborted Saint Paul Transit Hike c. 1877

[Horse car in Minneapolis, c. 1888.]

Before there were electric streetcars in 1889, the Saint Paul transit system was almost all horse cars. They were small, slow, uncomfortable, and unreliable, but it was all we had and we liked it. That is, as long as the system was losing money by not charging people very much for rides.

Here's what happened in 1877, according to Grand Avenue: The Renaissance of an Urban Street, by Billie Young and David Lanegran:

Though the horse-drawn trolleys were well-accepted by their riders, the business lost money, and in 1877 the properties were foreclosed by a group of thirteen New York bondholders. The assets included three and three-quarters miles of track, fifteen cars, thirty-four horses, six mules (!), twenty-four horse collars, fourteen bridles, horse blankets, buffalo robes, nine coal stoves for the cars, and two mouth rasps for the horses teeth.

The new owners hoped to solve the financial problems of the horse cars by raising fares, increasing the cost of a ride from five to six cents. This plan failed when an overzealous driver threw a woman off one of the car when she did not have the extra penny. The woman sued, was awarded $200 damages, and the owners promptly put the fares back to a nickel.

That was back when a penny really meant something, folks!