When and What:  From the limited information I have access to I have determined that the Twin City Rapid Transit TCRT started operations in 1884.�It's lines extended from Stillwater on the east side, to Lake Minnetonka on the West. When the streetcars reached a terminus like Excelsior a passenger could then board one of TCRT's express steamers known as "Streetcar Boats". They could also board the steamers of other lines in competition with TCRT. These boats went to Zumbra Heights, Mound, Wyzata, Deephaven or Big Island with it's large amusement park. (not to be confused with the Excelsior Amusement park which came later.) This early park was claimed to be a spectacle of electric lighting, including focused beam carbon arc lights sweeping the sky in Hollywood fashion, in a time when most families and businesses in America were still using kerosine lamps and wood stoves.

In 1920 the TCRT carried 285 million passengers. The year after WWII ended, 1946 over 200 million passengers rode the line. The system was abandoned in favor of an all BUS system in 1954. The boats and cars were destroyed in various ways, some were burned.

In an era when most people lived on farms, traveled vary little, and roads as we know them didn't exist between towns, the railway system allowed people to live in the Minnetonka area and commute to the city. This made much of the early growth of the lake area possible.