Overview

North Side Station is the last remaining electric streetcar carhouse of the Twin City Rapid Transit Company. 

• Location: 2418 Washington Avenue North
• Neighborhood: Hawthorne

Guidelines

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Historic profile

North Side Station is the last remaining electric streetcar carhouse of the Twin City Rapid Transit Company.

North Side Station opened in 1914. The original brown brick building along Washington Avenue is two stories tall. Brick pilasters divide the elevations into bays. The window openings have dark brick trim. There is brick corbelling above the second-story windows and a long metal cornice.

The first floor held offices, locker rooms for the trainmen, a storage room and a paint shop. The second floor had a pool room, reading room, and sleeping rooms for employees. To the east of the brick building is a long one-story brick carhouse. This is where streetcars were maintained. Outside, there were storage tracks that could accommodate 200 streetcars.

In 1953-1954, the facility was fully converted to a bus garage. A large one-story tan brick addition was built around the south and east sides. The building was sold in 1984 to be redeveloped for other uses. Since then, the building has been privately owned with spaces leased to several small businesses.

The Twin Cities Rapid Transit Company had an enormous economic impact on the region. It was a privately owned public transit company known for quality streetcars. In its heyday in the 1920s, it had 523 miles of track and employed about 3,500 people.