When streetcars rode the rails on city streets,
Before the buses took their favored place,
They were the transportation mode elites.
For decades they were the transit system's face.
But often, new technology defeats
Incumbents in evolving travel's race.
St. Paul was no exception to that plan.
So, let's discuss just how it all began.

Originally, there were horse-drawn fleets
That pulled along at slow and steady pace,
But cobblestones and mud made bumpy seats,
So miles of rails were laid, as was the case
For smoother ride, less pull on horse's cleats,
Who pulled the harnessed cars along a trace.
These vehicles were seen a something new
On avenues in eighteen seven two.

The seven horses needed -- made manure,
And pulling up the hills was way too slow,
While sickness with fatigue made times unsure.
There had to be a better way to go.
The owners, seeing ridership allure,
Invested later in a cable tow.
Installing cable drums, they laid the line.
Thus '87 saw a horse decline.

Pulled back and forth, the cablecars endure
The pressures that all iron cables throw.
While snags and breakdowns daily don't ensure
Anticipated goals of profit flow.
So pulling cables didn't seem the cure
As far as breaks and maintenance costs go.
But all that changed in eighteen ninety two
As Frank Sprague's new electric notions grew.

His streetcars, hooked upon a high-strung wire,
Sent constant current, motor to the wheels.
Then add appointments passengers desire.
The shiny brass and polished wood appeals
To tired riders going home, who admire
The view through glass, how wicker seating feels.
Thus was, before Ford's factory came along,
The need for transportation very strong.

In fact, they kept on stringin' wire higher.
Five hundred miles and more of mated steel
Made many Minnesota towns aspire
To have their own exciting streetcar deal.
And thus, it was just waiting to inspire
The ridership to much expanded zeal.
Two thirty million at its rider peak,
The transit system here was quite unique.

Two cities -- Minneapolis, St. Paul
Each had their own city transit plans.
'Till Thomas Lowery's family bought it all,
Consolidating ownership and lands,
Dug tunnels under hills they thought too tall,
An empire serving travel mode demands
From Stillwater and Bayport in the east
To Minnetonka -- west, it never ceased.

From Chaos would stability befall
While under Lowery's strong and able hands.
'til nineteen thirty one, a judgment call,
When he sold it to governmental fans
Who thought private businesses too small
To handle pent up needs as growth expands.
The fleet became eight hundred twenty eight
For nineteen forty's streetcar magistrate.

So, nineteen twenty cars drove riders down,
Until the Great Depression brought it back,
But cars and buses gained all over town,
And by the fifties rails were losing track.
Distinctive clanging bells of much renown
And its charismatic clickity-clack
Were on the verge of being heard no more,
And they were gone by nineteen fifty four.

The ghosts of streetcar days are still around.
The rails are there, but buried under black
Asphalt, like the cobblestones, to be found
When wear and tear has made the surface crack.
The Lowery tunnel's sealed and under ground,
And here and there you'll find memory plaques.
The riders went their way on wicker seats
When street cars rode the rails on city streets.