Isn't part of this building still standing in Minneapolis?

http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresou ... Type=Basic

Hi Bob:

Short answer. Nothing of the old Nicollet Station remains. There's a Metro Transit bus garage now on the site. This site is approximately 3 miles south of downtown Minneapolis.

Now a little history. This is a great classic photo of the old Nicollet Station (Twin City Rapid Transit Co. preferred to call them stations rather than carbarns of carhouses). This 1901 photo show the old Nicollet Station with the TCRT's 31st Street shops in the background. The shop powerhouse chimney can be seen behind the station. This powerhouse also produced traction power for a time until the TCRT's water power and steam plants were built at St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi in Minneapolis.

The 31st Street shops, with turntable, were originally built in the 1880s for the 3-foot gauge Minneapolis, Lyndale and Lake Minnetonka "motor line." From 1898 to 1907 TCRT built its first 560+ streetcars, work cars and electric locomotives in the old roundhouse/shop. They actually used the old turntable to feed cars in and out of the shop bays. TCRT quickly realized that the 31st Street shops were not well suited for major car building so they purchased land out in the "boonies" half-way between downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. Here the company built the great Snelling shops and adjoining Snelling Station. From 1907 through the mid-1920's TCRT built another 700+ streetcars and work cars including cars built for sale to other systems in the country under the carbuilding name the Lightweight Noiseless Electric Street Car Company.

In 1911-12 the old Nicollet Station "carhouse" building at 31st Street and Nicollet Avenue was demolished and a new Nicolet Station was constructed on the same site with an expanded car storage yard adjacent. The old roundhouse/shop building remainded for a time. "New" Nicollet station continued in use until abandonment of the station in 1953. It was then converted into a bus garage. The old Nicollet Station "carhouse" was demolished in the 1980s and a new garage built on the same site. Thus, this one block section of south Minneapolis has seen continuous transit use for over 120 years!

Thanks!

A bit more history.

Our museum has the only streetcar built at the TCRT's 31st Street shops and preserved in a museum. Car No. 1239 was one of the last cars built at the old shops prior to the opening of the new Snelling shops in St. Paul. Our museum's "mother car", No. 1300 was one of the first cars built at the new Snelling shops in 1908. No. 1300 was the first car preserved by what would later become our museum.

Seashore Trolley Museum's No. 1267 was also a product of the Snelling shops being one of the first cars to come out of then then brand new shop in late 1907.

When completed, all of these cars looked virtually identical to each other as early-on TCRT settled on a standard design that they followed to build over 1,100 streetcars over a 20-year period.

You can see photos of No. 1239 and No. 1300 by visiting our website which is listed below my signature.

Thanks!