About the Museum

The Minnesota Streetcar Museum collects, restores, and exhibits electric streetcars that operated in Minnesota. The collection includes streetcars from Minneapolis and St. Paul, Duluth, Winona, Moorhead, and the Iron Range. The Museum holds the largest collection of Minnesota streetcars anywhere.

The Museum maintains an extensive collection of books, photographs, and reference documents relating to the history of electric railways in Minnesota. It includes the definitive collection on the Twin City Rapid Transit Company. The collection is available to members of the community through educational outreach and interpretative programs.

The Museum preserves and commemorates the history of electrically powered public transit in Minnesota through community related educational and interpretive programs and exhibits.

The Ride

The Minnesota Streetcar Museum operates two separate demonstration railways that operate from May through November.

The Como-Harriet Streetcar Line, located in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, operates on a mile of former Twin City Rapid Transit Company right-of-way between Lake Harriet and Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun).

The Excelsior Streetcar Line operates in the City of Excelsior on one-half mile of track on the former Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway right-of-way through the south side of Excelsior.

Brief History

The Minnesota Streetcar Museum was created in December, 2004, as part of the restructuring of the Minnesota Transportation Museum which “spun off” its streetcar and steamboat operations to MSM and the Museum of Lake Minnetonka respectively during the winter of 2004-2005. MTM, which now focuses on railroading, was founded in 1962 to preserve Twin City Lines streetcar No. 1300 and, over the years, expanded into a multi-modal transportation museum preserving buses,  a steamboat, streetcars,  trains, and several railroad-related buildings.

Join us as a member or volunteer today!

Annual Appeal

Support our Museum by donating to important restoration or other projects through our Annual Appeal.